


On Buns and Ovens (working title)

by Charity_Angel



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Pregnancy, Season 6 Rewrite, because just no, kix is a brainy little medic, ships not massively shippy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2018-10-30 16:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 29,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10880460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charity_Angel/pseuds/Charity_Angel
Summary: In which Kix figures some things out, and human pregnancies do not happen overnight.





	1. Suspicion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



> This is another plot bunny that has grown into something much bigger than I ever intended.
> 
> Mando'a words are hoverable if you can, or at the end of each chapter if you can't.
> 
> (Also, it's Merfilly's fault. We (me, really) were ranting about unfeasible timelines in RotS...)

Kix opened the message curiously. It was from Rex’s birth-squad-mate, Lingo. It wasn’t like they weren’t friends, but keeping in touch wasn’t something they normally did. Especially since Lingo was Coruscant Guard rather than on ‘active’ duty, having earned the position by virtue of being a polyglot. Someone in their wisdom had decided that skill would be more useful in the capital rather than in battle.

(Truthfully, as much as he hated to admit it, being in the Guard _did_ suit Lingo a lot more than being on a battlefield ever would. He could shoot just fine, but he wasn’t quite wired the same way as the majority of their  vod’e.)

From: CT-7560

To: CT-7567; CT-6116

I’ve just rotated back onto Senate duty and thought you’d want to know your senator is sick. She’s skipped a few sessions but there’s no news that she’s seen a doctor.

K’oyacyi

That was strange, and Lingo was absolutely right in that they would want to know if Senator Amidala was ill. However, stuck on the Outer Rim, there wasn’t a lot either he or Rex would be able to do. In fact, the most helpful thing would be to keep General Skywalker so busy that he didn’t notice something was wrong.

Fortunately, Rex seemed to have the same thought, because a message came through from him before Kix could even begin to compose something himself.

From: CT-7567

To: CT-6116

I’ll deal with Skywalker; you investigate what you can so you’re prepared.

Investigate. Well, that… Actually, he _could_ do something about that, because Senator Amidala spent a lot of time in the spotlight. She would have appeared on vid feeds he could access on the net, to see if there was anything obvious he could pick up on.

And, since they were in transit between one disaster and the next, the only thing Kix had to worry about at the moment was injuries picked up by his vod’e doing something stupid.

With a sigh, he accessed the Senate records, and looked at how many sessions the senator had actually attended recently. There wasn’t much of a pattern, but there were a lot of missed sessions, or only half-days attended, over the last month or so. And when he went through the footage, it was curious – there were days where she seemed to be absolutely fine, and others where she looked completely exhausted, and/or nauseous. The days she looked worst were generally those where she was debating, or there was something he knew she would deem to be important going on.

At first, he chalked it up to stress – those were symptoms he was used to seeing in shinies before their first couple of battles, or from older vod’e who had just seen too much. It had been the 501st’s default setting after Umbara because of the nightmares most of them suffered with, and the three months or so since then hadn’t completely alleviated it.

But then he wondered, because their senator was tough: she had been in battle with them and acquitted herself well. She was as tough as any jetii, and the Senate was nothing compared to some of the things she had been through in the field.

And, aliit though she may be, Amidala was not a vod. Not a jagyc’vod, anyway – she was a dalyc’vod. It was a distinction that wasn’t normally made, but had to be taken into account when thinking in terms of medicine. Did human women react to stress the same way as the men?

A quick flick through his medical reference threw up that yes, women did react to stress like that (as well as the various emotional indicators that appeared among the vod’e too), but there was something else bothering him too.

He went back to the Senate feeds; yeah, he was right. Even when she didn’t look sick, she appeared to be uncomfortable, and there was something wrong about her… her…

Three months. Three months since Umbara and their extended down-time. Nausea, exhaustion, discomfort, enlarged breasts. Well, overlooking something like that was the kind of idiocy was what you got for not learning enough about women.

Kenobi had given the vod’e of the 212th and 501st a lecture a few days after they had come to Coruscant, after Geonosis. _Surely_ he had given it to Skywalker too? He _must_ have.

Even on the off-chance he hadn’t, surely their senator was sensible enough to have an implant? Because the relationship was supposedly a secret, and a pregnancy was a little unsubtle in that regard.

This couldn’t end well – this was going to get noticed by someone else eventually. He knew that natural-borns weren’t as big as clones when they… emerged, but they weren’t tiny either. Surely people could tell that a woman was expecting?

A quick search of the net suggested that yes, women changed pretty dramatically later on in a pregnancy, in a way that was going to be impossible to hide.

Skywalker was going to be a wreck. He was already overly-protective when it came to the senator, but the senator and his ik’aad? Even Kenobi might struggle to keep him in line when he found out.

Jesse was going to go nuts – he loved younglings. And Ahsoka too; she would love it too. This kid was going to have so many bavodu’e when word got round, even if the vast majority of them didn’t actually know what to do with a natural-born ik’aad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod, vod'e_ \- sibling, siblings (I love Mando'a's gender neutrality)  
>  _K'oyacyi_ \- farewell, goodbye; lit. stay alive  
>  _jetii_ \- Jedi (singular)  
>  _aliit_ \- family, clan  
>  _jagyc'vod_ \- brother (lit. male sibling)  
>  _dalyc'vod_ \- sister (lit. female sibling)  
>  _ik'aad_ \- baby  
>  _bavodu'e_ \- aunts and/or uncles (again, gender neutral)


	2. Sharing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kix begins learning a new branch of medicine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is a thing that is apparently happening. I finished this chapter off today. And... I may or may not have written most of the next chapter (676 words, to be exact), also today. On my phone. Man, that's not easy.
> 
> As always, Mando'a is hoverable for people who can hover, and at the bottom for those who can't.

There was a lot that Kix suddenly felt the need to learn: there were entire branches of medicine devoted to the care of pregnant women and their babies, and for the care of children once they were born. And, there was an entire army of people (mostly women) who tended to women during the birthing process itself, which was something that normal doctors, healers, and medics tended to stay well away from. He should probably learn that too, just in case (because they were them, and things rarely went to any kind of rational plan).

He had just started downloading some files on basic obstetrics and midwifery when his peace was invaded by Jesse (typically), carrying Ryll (somewhat less typical).

“Hey, cyar’ika,” Jesse greeted him cheerfully. “Your hibir’ika tried to take on Orar.”

Kix sighed. Ryll always tried to push himself a touch too far because of his little issue, but Orar – a touch more heavily built than most brothers – should have more common sense. He and Jesse were the oldest two members of the 501st and really should know better than to let the younger ones get injured on the ship.

“What’s the damage?”

“It’s a sprain,” Ryll grumbled, gesturing to his right knee. “I could have walked.”

“And I said you shouldn’t,” Jesse said with a smug smile. “Right, Kixy?”

Kix shrugged. “Well, there’s not much sense in causing any further damage that might take longer to heal,” he admitted grudgingly. He hated having to agree with Jesse when he was in one of his obnoxious moods. “We don’t know when we might get diverted to a battle. Set him down on the bed, Jesse.”

“I keep telling him that I just need to rest it,” Ryll grumbled as Jesse set him down.

Kix rolled his eyes and got up. “Probably, but let’s make sure you haven’t done anything more serious.”

 

.oOo.

 

Somewhat predictably, Ryll’s diagnosis turned out to be correct. He tried to persuade them both that he was okay; that he would rest in his bunk, but even Jesse kept glancing at the kid’s hands.

Ryll’s unfortunate name came courtesy of an equally unfortunate accident during his first mission on active duty: an accident that had involved him being doused with spice from head to toe, and had left him with permanent side-effects. They weren’t enough to keep him from duty (in Kix’s opinion, and his was the one that mattered), but he did tend to be a little jumpy, and it was obvious when he was tired because his hands started shaking. That in itself was a precursor to sporadic twitching, and Kix generally jabbed him with a sedative before things had a chance to progress from there.

Currently, Ryll’s hands had picked up a tremor that was a pretty good indicator that he needed rest. To anyone except Ryll, who saw it as an affront to his usefulness as a soldier, and a sign that he could be shipped back to Kamino as ‘defective’ at any second.

That would happen over Kix’s dead body, and even if Kix’s dead body happened to be around, General Skywalker and Commander Tano would put up a damn good fight. It was just a shame that Ryll couldn’t ever quite believe it. He pushed himself too hard because of it, in an effort to prove that he was just as good as his brothers.

“You’ll rest right here,” Kix said sternly, “where I can keep an eye on you. You can have a chapter on battlefield drug regimens and why over-stimulation is bad for the body to read up on.”

Given Ryll’s tendency to pull extra med-bay shifts, Kix had cautiously allowed him to study medicine so that he could be helpful in a different way. It was absolutely against the regs, and no-one in the 501st cared.

Jesse sniggered unhelpfully at Kix’s (somewhat pointed) choice of reading material, though.

As Kix was downloading the chapter to a data pad, Rex entered. He was alone, all four limbs intact, and no injuries apparent. He took in the scene without comment, and only the tiniest of expressions to give away that he was less than impressed, but unsurprised.

He jerked his head towards Kix’s office, and stepped inside. Jesse took the hint and left, ruffling Ryll’s fine, straight hair as he went. Kix sighed, handed Ryll the pad, and followed Rex, ensuring that the door was sealed behind him before turning to his friend, who had propped himself against the desk.

“I shouldn’t say,” Kix said in answer to the questioning quirk of Rex’s eyebrows. “Medic/patient confidentiality.”

That earned him an unimpressed look. “She’s not currently your patient, and you don’t actually have a firm diagnosis because you’re half the galaxy away. You’d be speculating, at best.”

Yeah, he had known that excuse wasn’t going to fly with Rex. He also knew that he could trust Rex absolutely.

“I think she’s pregnant.”

There was a moment where Rex looked confused, trying to place the definition of the word. Kix couldn’t blame him: it wasn’t something they had any experience of. The majority of the Kaminoans were clones, as genetically tweaked and perfected as the vod’e themselves. Natural hatchings were rare but permissible since they permitted genetic diversity.

“Yaihadla,” he repeated in Mando’a, which was probably more useful, in context. It was more descriptive, at least.

And it did help: Rex’s eyes widened, just fractionally, before he groaned and rubbed his hand over his blond fuzz.

“And we think Skywalker’s over-protective of Senator Amidala already. Think what he’s going to be like about an ik’aad.”

Kix tried very hard not to think about that again – once had been bad enough. “I’ve got some reading to do – turns out growing a kid is kind of rough on the body. That’s why she’s sick right now. I need to find out how it all works for next time she’s with us. And birth sounds a lot more complicated than decanting: I need to look at that too, because, well…”

“Because we’re us,” Rex finished, wearily. “And, let’s face it, this barely even registers on the ‘weird shit’ scale.”

“Very true.”

There was a moment of silence as they both contemplated how things were going to change, and what they would need to do in order to maintain the happy equilibrium the legion enjoyed. It was broken with:

“Who’s going to get rich from this?”

 

.oOo.

 

As it turned out, not many members of the 501st would come into money when word eventually got out: while they all knew about their jetii and his senator, the vast majority had a healthy respect for the senator’s common sense. A baby was something that they wouldn’t have planned on, and Senator Amidala did, Kix knew from her records, have a contraceptive implant. Babies were needy things, and Kix didn’t think that normal people raised their children in huge batches like clones were. Even the jetiise younglings were kept in very small batches, and they weren’t considered to have a ‘normal’ upbringing either. Kix was pretty sure that normal babies were normally raised by their parents: something that neither General Skywalker nor Senator Amidala had time for, given how involved in the war they both were.

It had been painful, glancing through Jesse’s meticulous book, to see Hardcase down as having bet on it (just the thought of it would have amused him, and that made it worth a bet), as well as Waxer (romantic sap). Wolffe and Bly were both going to be very smug. It was odd, seeing brothers from other units on a 501st book: such things were generally kept in-house. The 212th and 501st shared regularly, and battalion commanders kept their own (kept by Cody, because he didn’t otherwise participate), but to have another company’s commander in their book (let alone two) was unusual.

(In fact, there was a notation for ‘GB’, which Kix didn’t recognise at all, and Jesse smugly refused to tell him who it was. It led him neatly to the conclusion that it was General Koon, which was _definitely_ shocking.)

Jesse had found out the secret in short order. Kix really, _really_ needed to learn to sleep at appropriate times and not get so caught up in reading that he fell asleep at his desk. He was lucky that it was only Jesse who found him, and happened to glance at the screen before marking the section and shutting it off.

And he was lucky that despite the fact that Jesse was loud and occasionally irritating and obnoxious, he also knew how to keep his mouth shut when it was important, and he only lost his shit about it when they were alone. (Although he complained loudly in public that Kix wasn’t as light as he had been before he had caught up to the rest of his brothers in size, and maybe he could fall asleep more considerate places, like in his arms, in their bunk? But there was nothing particularly unusual about that.)

Kix supposed that it was sweet that his vod was excited about the little one. It wasn’t something they were never going to be able to have for themselves, and he did love the kids they met throughout the galaxy. They had talked about maybe adopting an orphan or three once everything was over, and they would both love their kids, Kix knew, but it wasn’t the same as the idea having one of their own blood. He had considered that maybe, one day, if they had a compatible female friend who was willing, maybe Jesse could father one, but that was long-distant.

But a little girl, with their eyes and Jesse's brown hair? Kix could dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando'a stuffs:
> 
>  _cyar'ika_ \- darling, sweetheart (in this context, it's a diminutive version of ' _cyare_ (beloved), because Kix is younger than Jesse)  
>  _hibir'ika_ \- pupil, student (I'm also taking it to translate as 'apprentice', which I think fits better. Jesse is using the diminutive here mostly out of affection, but partly because he's an asshole)  
>  _yaihadla_ \- pregnant (literally a full uterus)  
>  _jetii(se)_ \- Jedi - singular and plural  
>  _vod_ \- brother


	3. Validation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Padmé finally puts in an appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, Mando'a words are hoverable if you are able, and at the end if you aren't.

The next time they were on Coruscant, Skywalker and Commander Tano immediately got dragged into the investigation at the Temple. Kix hesitated for a few hours before going to visit their senator, agonising over whether or not he should. In the end, the fact that she was aliit won out.

He could get away with going because she was theirs: perhaps not their elected representative, given that the clones were deemed to be Kaminoan in origin and therefore "their" senator was Halle Burtoni, but she had no interest in the vod'e beyond their commercial value. Senator Amidala, however, was known for her convictions about the clone army. Any brother could get away with visiting her, but especially one from either the 501st or 212th.

She was clearly trying to put a brave face on things when she greeted him in the Mando'ade fashion before showing him to a seat, but he could see where it was wearing on her. She was drawn and tired-looking, and she was moving with great care, lacking her usual graceful glide.

"What can I do for you, Kix?" she asked, so politely.

"Actually, ma'am," he said, glancing around at the handmaiden (Sabé, he was fairly certain) and the droid (the vastly irritating C 3PO), both standing unobtrusively off to the side, "I was wondering if there was something I might be able to help you with?"

At her curious look, he continued: "I have a friend - a birth-squad-mate of Rex's - in the Senate Guard. He... He commed me because he was worried: he noticed you seemed ill."

"I..." She seemed hesitant, something he wasn't used to her being. The senator was always so self-assured. "I'm fine, Kix, honestly."

Her attempt to brush him off might have convinced Ryll, given his relative inexperience when it came to patients dodging medics. It didn't fool him in the slightest. He leaned forward, clasping his hands together and resting his forearms in his lap, and met her eyes levelly.

"I think we both know that you aren't _ill_ , senator," he said, and watched her eyes grow wide. Her hands clasped protectively over her abdomen, and Sabé stepped forward, coming to stand at her mistress' side. She glared at him, and wasn't mollified by Amidala's hand on her arm.

"Threepio, leave us please." The droid made a noise of insulted protest, and muttered objectionably to himself as he tottered, otherwise obediently, from the room.

"Sabé, this is Kix. I have trusted him with my life many times before today, and I..." She swallowed hard and steeled herself before continuing: "I trust him with Anakin's life _every_ day."

She studied Kix's reaction to that, and laughed softly. "You already knew."

He couldn't help but smile. "My lady, the only surprise was that you admitted it. Jesse stopped running a book on it two years ago because the odds were too short."

She shook her head, and tugged at Sabé's arm to get her to sit, so that she wasn't trying to intimidate Kix any longer. The handmaiden perched herself on the arm of the sofa, still eyeing Kix carefully.

"I shouldn't be surprised by that,” the senator said wryly: “my husband is less than subtle on occasion. But, how did you know about the baby? I haven't told anyone except Sabé."

Kix shrugged. "My brother Jesse would tell you it's because I'm clever. Honestly, though, I'm just observant. I had to look up some things, since this is something I was never trained for, but it all fit."

She had laughed at a certain part of his explanation. "No, I imagine your teachings focussed somewhat more on battlefield surgery than on gynaecology or obstetrics."

"Just a touch," he agreed, laughing. "But I have read up a lot in the last few weeks, and if you ever need anything, and I'm close enough, please come to me. If I’m not, and I’m not in the middle of a battle, comm me."

She nodded. "Thank you, Kix, I will. I'm sure you've worked out that I'm not seeking medical attention because of our circumstances, with Anakin being… well, and the Naboo traditions too. Is... Does anyone else know?"

Kix nodded. "Rex, because Lingo contacted both of us, and he was worried. He's been running interference with General Skywalker, making sure he hasn't paid so much attention to what's going on back here, with you. Jesse found out by accident: I fell asleep while I was reading, and he found me with the open page in front of me. He's intelligent enough to draw conclusions. I think Ryll knows something’s up, because I’m reading as much as he is these days, but he doesn’t know what."

Instead of her being cross, she was smothering a smile. "Ahsoka has told stories about your sleeping habits," she said. "I believe Jesse voices his opinions regularly. Your aliit believe you work too hard, Kix, although they are not ungrateful for your dedication."

She reached out to him, and took his hands in hers. “I am grateful too, to have such a good friend that you would do this for me and Anakin. Please, though; don’t push yourself too hard in trying to learn everything. I don’t want you or your work to suffer because of one faulty implant.”

He squeezed gently. “My lady, this _is_ part of my work. And, let’s face it, at the end of the war, medicine is my best marketable skill. I know some about Togruta women because of the commander, but if I can only treat 50% of the Human population, then I’m no damn good, am I?”

She chuckled. “I suppose not; not unless you specialise in proctology. I don’t suppose you’ve come across…? I know that breast pain is to be expected, but I’m also experiencing aches low down too.”

She touched a hand briefly, very low – much lower and he would have to be worried about Skywalker hunting him down and murdering him (and Jesse wanting details). Too low to be uterine pains, not this late on.

“It could be your pelvis,” he said, thinking carefully. “The ligaments are all relaxing to increase the diameter, make it easier for the baby to be born.”

“Oh. Oh!” Her face lit up with understanding, and Sabé looked distinctly relieved too. “That makes sense. I wonder why no-one ever tells you about that kind of thing?”

“I imagine it’s mentioned on those discussion forums on the net,” Sabé commented dryly. “Of course, we can’t be seen to be accessing that kind of thing.”

Kix was surprised by that, but then again, the senators were supposed to be completely open about their doings. Perhaps they were monitored in the same way that the clones’ terminals were? Kix at least had some discretion because of the nature of his job (and Jesse worked wonders in securing connections from monitoring): no-one would have been able to look at his recent project.

“My skin is itching too,” the senator said, pulling Kix out of his muse over network security. “I’ve been using lotions to soothe it. I assume that’s down to the stretching?”

Kix nodded. “That’s another perfectly normal thing to happen, and you’re doing the right thing. Keeping your skin supple is the best way to prevent scarring, and to help it bounce back afterwards.

“I didn’t bring my kit with me – I thought that might bring too much attention to my visit – but if you feel like visiting the barracks while we’re planet-side, I’ll give you a check-up, make sure everything is okay with both you and the ik’aad.”

She smiled at him. “I will do just that, as soon as I can fabricate an excuse. And, I suppose, as soon as I can tell Anakin. Do you have any idea when he’ll be free?”

Kix shook his head. “I know he and the commander are both tied up with this investigation right now. There’s not a lot we can do to help out until they find the hut’uun who did this.”

She sighed. “It’s just terrible. I can’t believe anyone would want to harm the Jedi. But perhaps at least I can perhaps visit the men, to help boost morale? And then I can give Anakin some good news when I can finally pin him down – I’ll be able to tell him that we’re both healthy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _aliit_ \- family, clan (not necessarily blood relations)  
>  _vod'e_ \- brothers, siblings. In this context, the clones as a whole.  
>  _ik'aad_ \- baby  
>  _hut'uun_ \- coward (the worst possible insult in Mando'a)


	4. Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kix comes up with a solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As ever, Mando'a is hoverable, and in the end notes.

Things went rapidly to shit not long afterwards, but at least the senator had allowed Kix to continue speaking to Jesse, now that things were definite, and there was news to be told. It seemed a shame that Jesse was going to know before the person who definitely _should_ know, but Skywalker had a lot more to concentrate on than something he didn’t even know about yet. His  ik’aade could wait; they weren’t going anywhere for the time being, unlike his padawan.

No-one questioned it when Kix and Jesse set out together on a patrol. Realistically, Jesse should have been leading a fully manned patrol – especially now he was halfway through his ARC training – but everyone was rattled and Rex wasn’t willing to call Jesse out on it. Rex looked haunted, but there was nothing they could do about that right now. Later, perhaps, they would be able to help take his mind off of it.

In their ‘very diligent’ patrol of the undercity, they spoke on a bucket-to-bucket, tight channel.

“Two? How…?”

Kix turned to look at his partner. “You’re a 559 and you’re asking me that?”

“What’s that…oh: you mean like Aurek and Besh. That happens in nature too?”

Kix suppressed the urge to shoot him a withering look. It wouldn’t have quite the same effect under his bucket, anyway.

“More often, actually, and not just like them. Natural-borns can come in pairs where they’re not identical, and don’t ask me how that works, because I don’t want to have to explain that right now. It would take too long to explain how women work to make ade in the first place. These ik’aade are a boy and girl, according to my scans at least.”

Jesse shook his head. “That’s almost as crazy as this osik. There’s absolutely no way our vod’ika did this.”

Kix shrugged. “I agree. I thought that was why we were talking instead of searching? So that we could honestly say we hadn’t seen her?”

Jesse sighed. “Yeah. But just because I have to trust that our generals will get this sorted out, doesn’t mean I have to like it. So, is it true that women get fat when they’re incubating? Because that doesn’t make any sense.”

“No,” Kix said. “Their bodies change shape, and they gain weight because they’re growing an ik’aad, or two, just like tubes gain mass during incubation, but it’s not fat. It’s all up front, like this.” He sketched a rough shape of a gravid belly in front of himself. “Or mostly, anyway. I think it’s pretty normal to put on a bit of extra body mass.”

He paused, then added: “The senator’s not that big yet. You wouldn’t know to look at her, not yet, but she’s not going to be able to hide forever.”

“Hopefully unlike someone else we know, because we taught her better than to get caught. Good evening, miss.” Jesse had switched to externals mid-way through his sentence, and nodded to a… to a youngster that Kix refused to look directly at – a cloaked figure with a hood that did very little – certainly not enough – to disguise half-grown montrals and blue-striped lekku.

“You look hungry,” he went on, and reached into his belt pouch. “Here, have a couple of protein bars.”

She flashed them both a look of extreme gratitude, grabbed the bars, and hurried away. Neither trooper watched where she went, deliberately averting their eyes.

Kix sighed heavily, and dipped his head so that his bucket rested against Jesse’s. His be’riduur hands came to rest on his hips. It wasn’t enough contact, not through all their armour, but it was as close to physical comfort as they were going to get at the moment.

“I want to help her,” Kix whispered over the private channel.

“I know,” Jesse said. “But it’s best we can answer as honestly as possible. I gave my bars to a starving kid on the street, and we have absolutely no idea where our commander is.”

Kix let out a breathy half-laugh. “At least that’s believable, you big sap. Come on, let’s go not-look for our vod’ika some more.”

 

.oOo.

 :

Things looked bad. Kix still didn’t believe for a second that Ahsoka was to blame for the bombing, but even he had to admit that being found where she was _really_ didn’t look good. 

Morale was shot to hell, but Kix couldn’t find it in himself to join in with whatever Jesse and Fives had cooked up to try and distract the vod’ike. He had things to do.

He blinked as Rex stepped into his office (currently his, anyway – some other CMO would take it over when they shipped out), and realised that he had read the same sentence three times already.

“You look about as bad as I feel.”

Rex collapsed into the soft chair opposite and ran his hands over his hair. “I feel it,” he said to the floor. “I… She didn’t do it. I _know_ she didn’t do it.”

“She wouldn’t,” Kix agreed. “We all know that. We just need to… oh!”

Rex raised his head to stare, red-rimmed eyes fixed on him. “What?”

“She’s not going to come back to us, is she?”

Rex growled deep in his throat.

“No, no… I don’t mean that in a bad way, just… well, the whole kriffing Order turned their backs on her when she needs them the most. Even when she’s acquitted, she’s not going to come back. But maybe we can persuade her to stay within the aliit?”

Rex mulled that over, and Kix could see the moment where he accepted that Kix was probably right. He sighed deeply. “How?”

Kix tapped his screen. “Send her to our senator. She’ll need an extra hand or two soon enough, with the news I gave her.”

Rex frowned. “Is she sick, then? I thought you said…?”

Kix dragged a smile from somewhere. “Fit and healthy, and expecting a pair of tinies in about five months’ time.”

“Two? Trust Skywalker to make something so rare.”

“It’s not as rare in natural births as it is for us,” Kix said. He felt he was going to have this conversation many times over in the coming months, as news spread among the troops. “One in eighty Human births.”

“Still rare enough,” Rex said, chuckling. “Rarer than Jesse, not so rare as me.”

Kix knew that Rex meant their specific mutations from the Fett baseline rather than anything else about themselves.

“Could you the chaos if every brunet vod was like Jesse?”

Rex outright laughed at that. “Nope. Having Fives on that wavelength is bad enough. Okay, so two ade. H… Wait, _five_ months? But… they’ll still be _tiny_! Normal humans grow slower than us, right?”

Kix nodded. “We’re completely double time, right from div-one. They’ll be the equivalent of a hundred and thirty day foetus in the tubes.”

Rex groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “We need some serious real-world education, don’t we?”

“Yep.”

“Senator Amidala’s definitely going to need some extra help, if she’s going to have two… ik’aade? Is that the right word?... that helpless. Good thing Ahsoka likes kids. Let's hope she likes them that little.”

Kix smiled. “They’re Skywalker’s: she’s going to love them just as much as we will. No matter how much they piss all over us.”

 

.oOo.

 

Kix managed to catch up to her, out of sight of the Council.

“Kix! I…”

“I know,” he said quickly, not wanting her to have to go through the pain of recounting what had obviously just happened. “You’re leaving us.”

She looked away from him, her eyes filling with tears, and her lekku bunching up. “I don’t want to.”

“I know; I think I’d have made the same choice in your shoes. Here, take this, and go see Senator Amidala.” He pressed a data pad into her hands. It contained everything he had managed to download so far about Human pregnancies and what the senator could expect in the coming months. It would save her or her handmaidens having to access incriminating information.

“Wh… Kix, what’s going on?”

“Just go see her. Show her this. You’re aliit, and we don’t want to lose you. This way, I think… I _hope_ you’ll want to stay close.”

She shook her head. “I can’t stay,” she whispered, sounding pained. “I… I can’t.”

He nudged the pad. “Take a look.”

She sighed and turned it on, clearly reluctant. She blinked a few times, and her eyes went wide.

“Are you serious?”

“Generally,” he said, smiling. “I’m sure you’ve heard Jesse tell me off for it more than once.”

Ahsoka squealed – a high-pitched, cheerful thing that was probably at least halfway off the upper range of his ability to hear – and threw herself at him, engulfing him in one of her wonderful, warm hugs.

Yeah, she was staying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _ik'aad(e)_ \- baby/ies  
>  _ad(e)_ \- child(ren)  
>  _osik_ \- shit  
>  _vod'ika/e_ \- little sibling(s) (in these contexts, it would be 'little sister', and 'younger brothers')  
>  _be'riduur_ \- spouse's/husband's  
>  _aliit_ \- family, clan  
>  _vod_ \- sibling, brother
> 
>  
> 
> Also, _gah!_. I had a plan, then... it's trying to get away from me.
> 
> My brain hates me...


	5. Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which someone who should know finds out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As ever, Mando'a hoverable and at the bottom.

“What’s wrong with Padmé?”

Kix looked up at his general, startled by his sudden appearance and almost violent outburst. He hadn’t been particularly stable since Ahsoka’s abrupt departure, but Kix had hoped that her staying on Coruscant, close by, might have mitigated that.

“Wrong, sir?” Kix asked in genuine confusion. “Nothing that I know of. She’s not commed me to say there’s a problem.”

“A problem with _what_?” Skywalker hissed, and Kix groaned. He knew they had shipped out pretty quickly, but it hadn’t been _that_ quick. Had it?

(No – they had still been planetside when Rex had come to see him and Jesse to work through his issues following Ahsoka’s departure. Because safe or not, their trust in the Jedi Council had been shaken to its core, for all of them.)

Kix shook his head. “I can’t say any more, sir. Medic/patient confidentiality.”

“So there _is_ something wrong with her?”

“Sir, I really think you ought to speak with Senator Amidala yourself,” Kix said, trying to keep his voice soft and soothing, but with that edge that said he wasn’t shifting from his stance of confidentiality.

There was a glint in Skywalker’s eyes, and a stubborn set to his jaw. “Kix, I…”

“You can’t order me, sir,” Kix interrupted, anticipating where his general was going with this and letting the fuel out of his engine before he could even get going, “because I’m bound by medical ethics, and you don’t outrank me in here. Now go away before I sedate your ass, and talk to your wife.”

Now that got a better response: Skywalker froze, startled, and blanched.

“Th… She… Who told you?”

“She did, sir. Now, go call her, put your mind at rest. Because whatever you’re thinking, I can pretty much guarantee you’re wrong. In fact, it might help put your mind at ease about something else too.”

All deflated, he just looked lost and uncertain. “Kix, quit being cryptic,” he whined.

He tried hard not to smile. “Sorry, sir, not this time. Go on.” He jerked his head in the direction of the door. “You’ll feel better, I promise.”

Skywalker took a moment to compose himself, nodded to Kix, and headed out. Kix sighed and shook his head in disbelief: honestly, the man was a nightmare. How much better could this mission have gone if Skywalker had actually _talked_ to Senator Amidala, rather than spending their one free night on Coruscant working himself into a frenzy instead? Because that was what he had obviously done. If only he had gone home, he probably would have seen that Ahsoka was safe and well (because Kix had had a message from Senator Amidala, thanking him for his thoughtfulness, although did he know how hyperactive excited teenaged Togruta are?).

(The answer was yes, but he supposed that he and the rest of the vod’e had better systems in place to help channel that energy into something productive in one way or another. Asking someone else to work with that on the spur of the moment – particularly someone already exhausted – was potentially unethical.)

Kix was already too old for this osik. Force knew he loved Skywalker, but his mood swings left something to be desired occasionally.

He needed a drink. Maybe Rex would be up for a mutual moaning and griping session?

 

.oOo.

 

Skywalker was pale with shock when he came back, long enough later that Rex had joined Kix, and they each had a highly incriminating glass of whiskey.

Rex just reached for the bottle and handed it over to Skywalker without a word. Their general took it gratefully and swallowed what looked like a generous mouthful before collapsing into the single remaining seat.

“She's…”

Kix exchanged an amused glance with Rex.

“Guess I can start calling him General Buir, then,” Rex said with a grin.

Skywalker flinched, his eyes wild. “No, I… but, two?”

This was kind of pitiful.

“Sir, you’ve been handling Jesse and Fives just fine for this long. You'll be great.”

“And look at the job you've done with Ahsoka,” Rex added helpfully. “She's an amazing young woman.

Skywalker nodded, leaning forward, towards Kix. The bottle dangled absently between his legs.

“I spoke to her too. She said it was your idea.”

A full sentence: a vast improvement. Was that the alcohol kicking in, or just the mention of Ahsoka focussing his mind onto a much more mentally accessible topic?

Kix shrugged in response and grabbed a third glass from his stash in his bottom drawer. “She's aliit: I couldn't just let her disappear. Especially not when I knew that your lady wife and your ade would probably need a hand - one who can look after herself and others just fine.”

“And it gives us all a great excuse to go visit, if Ahsoka's living there,” Rex added as he poured a slug into the new glass from the bottle he had liberated from Skywalker's loose grip. “Especially you and Kix, sir.”

Skywalker nodded again, a little more controlled this time. “Yeah, yeah, you're right. It does. So, you knew too?”

Rex inclined his head slightly. “A birth-squad-mate of mine contacted both of us because he was concerned. He noticed that Senator Amidala was missing sessions, and she looked ill. So I ran interference with you while Kix investigated and put all the pieces together.”

“Jesse found out, accidentally,” Kix put in, feeling the need for full disclosure, just as he had with Amidala. “It may or may not have involved me falling asleep with the med text open on the screen in front of me. And if Ryll didn't have an idea before that something was on - and that boy is too bright not to notice - he definitely does now.”

He waved his hand towards the open door to the unusually vacant med bay. In the far corner sat Ryll, who was studiously pretending they weren't there, disturbing his study time.

Skywalker sighed heavily. “At least I can count on you four to be discreet until we can sit and talk about what we're going to do.”

There were a few seconds of quiet before. “Fuck. Twins? Kix, are you sure?”

Kix nodded. “Definitely.”

“Shit. What the hell are we supposed to do? How…? Kids…?”

Kix could feel Rex’s eyes on him, and refused to look at him because he’d probably laugh.

“Not sure, sir. You’re probably asking the wrong people for advice about raising young kids.”

“Huh. Yeah, that’s true. Oh crap, I am so not ready for this.”

Kix had to try harder not to look at Rex, or to laugh. The man had a whole legion under his command, and he was worried about a pair of ade who would be pretty much helpless for a long time. And he wasn't going to be alone, either - he was going to have two perfectly sensible women by his side.

But, from the sheer panic that still tightened Skywalker's features as he knocked back Kix’s good whiskey, they couldn't get back to Coruscant fast enough. At least there, Skywalker would have those two women to make him see sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod'e_ \- brothers (in this context, 'clones')  
>  _osik_ \- shit  
>  _buir_ \- dad/parent  
>  _aliit_ \- family, clan  
>  _ade_ \- children


	6. Virus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which questions are asked.

They ended up being re-deployed without a rest: going straight into the complete FUBAR that was Ringo Vinda. It galled Kix that he couldn't find a rational explanation for what had happened to calm, sweet, sensible Tup, for him to go so completely off the deep end that he would execute a Jedi. Or why the karking Seppies wanted him so badly.

He spent most of the trip back patching up his brothers - he and Ryll worked tirelessly, first doing tandem surgeries on their brothers who were critical (something Kix had been worried about Ryll doing, but somehow his hands worked just fine when they really needed to, without the shakes they knew would hit big time later on), then moving onto the usual cuts, bruises, broken limbs, and non-critical blaster burns. Those Jesse had triaged first, to make sure they were stable clean and cooled. Over the course of the last three years, he had pulled more than his fair share of med bay time and, given he had helped Kix study when they had been kids, he knew more medicine than people gave him credit for.

They were finally back on Coruscant and attempting to relax in the almost vacant barracks (all of the younger men, and a substantial proportion of the older ones too, were out at 79s with most of the 212th) when Kenobi appeared. He waved off any attempt to get up for him.

“Any news, sir?” Kix asked as Jesse sorted out a drink for Cody’s general. 

(Who was he kidding? _Rex’s_ general.)

Kenobi looked positively exhausted. Kix wondered how long since he had last slept properly: more than likely well before the bombing at the Temple. He knew that Cody would sit on his general to make him rest, but proper sleep was a different thing, and Kix suspected it took Rex to make that happen these days.

“I'm afraid not,” he said. “We’re still waiting for results from the tests. They seem to agree with your initial guess, that it may be a virus of some sort. Possibly one engineered by the Separatists to target your DNA, and so they are also quarantining Fives in case he has been infected too. Rex is en route: he got directed back to the battleground so he’s coming a long way round.”

Kix frowned, scowling at his glass. “That doesn't make any sense. If it was a virus, Tup and Rex were on the same shuttle for more than enough time for Rex to be infected too. Just as long as Fives. Even I would have been exposed, when I was trying to treat Tup back on Ringo Vinda.”

He didn't need to look at his brothers to know that Cody, Jesse, and Boil were deeply uneasy following that statement.

“The Kaminoans don't seem to think so,” Kenobi said, in a way that suggested that he had already had this discussion. “It is concerning, though - that the Separatists could have engineered something that you're all vulnerable to.”

“I thought that biological warfare was outlawed?” Cody asked.

“So is the cloning of sentient beings,” Kenobi pointed out wryly. “And yet here you all are. Force, this is a mess.” He sighed heavily and took a mouthful of his drink.

Kix exchanged glances with his three brothers. Not one of them disagreed with Kenobi’s assessment.

“Come on, sir,” Jesse said, forcing some cheer: “the Long-Necks might be karking bastards, but they're good medics. They’ll get this figured out in no time. And even they won't mess about with Fives and Rex - they're more careful with ARC troopers.”

“Ah, that explains a few things,” Kenobi said. His tone was dry, but there was a glimmer of sly humour in the glance he gave Jesse.

It broke the mood: Jesse and Boil laughed, and even Cody cracked a smile.

“I just want the snazzy uniform,” Jesse countered with a more genuine amount of good cheer. “I never met an ARC trooper who had trouble getting laid.”

Kix frowned, and Kenobi smiled.

“As I understand it, you don't have any trouble in that area anyway.” He looked significantly at Kix.

“Oh, I don't, sir. I just want to drive him crazy.”

“You do that anyway,” Kix growled, deliberately choosing to twist the intention of Jesse's words.

“Is it a good idea, distracting a medic by flashing your kama and pauldron at him?” Kenobi asked in that same, infuriatingly dry tone.

So he was to be the butt of the joke that evening. Just perfect: as if he wasn't already wound up enough about Tup.

“He's got a point,” Cody said, with his typical deadpan. “Distracting medics is never a good idea.”

“Oh, I don't know,” Jesse said. “Sometimes they need a good distracting.”

“Very true,” Kenobi said, as he raised his glass again, clearly preparing to take a drink. “Sometimes a good ‘distraction’ is just what the medic ordered. ‘Distractions’ can be good for the soul.”

He paused, took a sip, then took a second, more appreciative look at the glass. “Who do have to thank for this?”

“Rex,” Cody said promptly, just as Jesse said “Cody.”

“It was both of them,” Boil put in. “Their idea, and we all chipped in a little.”

Obi-Wan raised his Corellian brandy to all of them in a silent toast. “My thanks to you all, then. This is precisely what I needed this evening. I came to verify some scuttlebutt, and got somewhat distracted.”

Jesse opened his mouth, and Kix kicked him before he could say something crass.

“What’ve you heard, sir?” Boil prompted.

“That Ahsoka Tano is currently the guest of Senator Amidala,” Kenobi said.

“Aurek and Besh?” Jesse guessed as to the source of that particular piece of news. Of course Jesse would have shared the good news with them – 559 had remained close even after their training pushed them in different directions.

“Odd Ball, actually,” Kenobi admitted. “And why is it that I seem to know so many clones whose service numbers begin with 559?”

Boil snickered. “Because they’re charmed. They all survived incubation, none of them got ‘reassigned’ due to defects discovered growing up, and all twelve of them graduated to active service.”

“Twelve?”

Kix raised his hand slightly. “They adopted me when my squad got disbanded.”

“To be fair, we adopted you a long time before that,” Jesse pointed out. “And since we’re all so awesome, we got ourselves into the best two battalions in the whole army.”

“If it helps, sir, I believe that Commander Tano is actually being employed by Senator Amidala as a bodyguard,” Kix suggested.

“A bodyguard? Well, she does have the most horrendous ability to attract trouble. Perhaps that’s for the best. And at least we know that Ahsoka is safe and well.”

Cody eyed his general carefully. “You are thinking of the same Commander Tano, right, sir? The one who is as much a magnet for trouble as you?”

“I…” Kenobi spluttered.

“Shall I just start with Geonosis and move on from there?” Cody suggested before Kenobi could form any kind of rebuttal.

Kenobi had the good grace to look embarrassed and say nothing.


	7. Chips

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which stories start to reach Coruscant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, translations hoverable and at the end.

Rex hadn’t even touched down when the ships comms all opened up, as per the medical override, and Kix barked at him to get his bucket on and sealed before he even thought about disembarking. He could hear the confusion in his brother’s voice when he questioned it. Not that he hadn’t followed the instruction – that transmission had clearly come over his helmet’s inbuilt comm rather than the ship’s internal pick-ups.

“Because if this is a virus, there’s a chance you’ve got it, no matter what the Kaminoans say,” Kix explained, more gently. “I don’t want to take any chances: we’re going from here directly into quarantine.”

He could imagine the expression – or lack thereof – on Rex’s face as he suppressed the urge to sigh. Then something else occurred to him.

“At least you’re not arguing,” he said into the comm. “I bet Fives was less gracious.”

Rex snorted. “You’re not kidding. Do they really still think it’s a virus?”

Kix shrugged, which was a bit pointless, because Rex couldn’t see him, and even Jesse and Ryll would struggle to see it underneath his armour. “That’s what they’re saying. General Kenobi’s feeding us updates from the council, but there’s nothing new to report yet.”

Rex sighed audibly. “I guess it makes sense to be careful then.”

“Sure does,” Kix agreed. “I’ve run every test I can on myself and Ryll, and the Temple healers are helping out. We’re both clean. I just want to make sure you are too. Hopefully it won’t be more than a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Rex said as he set the shuttle down. “Then why haven’t we heard anything about Tup?”

“That, my brother, is an excellent question,” Jesse butted in. “We’re all hoping for answers soon. In the meantime, you get to enjoy the company of my gorgeous riduur and his equally brainy hibir. And me.”

“Kix, does he _have_ to be there? Haven’t I suffered enough, trapped in this tin can for so long?”

Kix laughed, and even Ryll chuckled. Jesse just shoved his bucket on wordlessly. Kix knew his riduur well enough to know that he wasn't offended; just pretending to be so.

“We’ll be right out, vod. See you soon.”

 

.oOo.

 

“If they’re right, and this is something that targets us specifically, that means that other people are safe, right?”

Jesse snickered. “I think he’s a bit busy right now.”

Rex sighed and flopped back onto the bed. “You’re making assumptions. There are trillions of people out there who don’t share our genome.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m not right,” Jesse retorted. “You’re stuck with us, vod.”

“You’re not stuck anywhere, sir,” Ryll said, returning without his bucket and poking at his data pad, clearly unsatisfied with the answers it was giving him. “Everything’s come back clean. There’s no virus, anywhere. No sign of contagion.”

“Hmm, that’s what I feared,” a new voice said, entering the room from behind. “There have been some… complications. Master Ti and Fives are returning to Coruscant with some kind of… the accounts are conflicting, but some kind of anomaly in the brain.”

That actually made a certain amount of sense, except for one thing: “That was the first place I looked,” Kix said indignantly. “There was nothing wrong with Tup’s brain.”

“I believe it only appeared on a level five, atomic scan,” Kenobi said, clearly not blaming Kix. “It’s not something you would have had the facilities to do in the field.”

“So what’s the complication?” Rex asked. “Seems to me that Tup having something wrong in his head makes sense with what happened.”

Kenobi sighed. “It seems that there may have been some excitement following the discovery, and with the method of discovery. Fives is coming back as a prisoner.”

Kix paused in the removal of his bucket, shocked.

“Oh, I can’t _wait_ to hear the story behind that,” Rex said, sounding pretty much done with the situation.

“I admit to being intrigued myself,” Kenobi said. He was handing Rex a pair of blacks, and a pair of blue-striped boots sat by the Jedi’s feet. “Especially since the Kaminoans are still insisting that a virus is at work here. I feel sure Fives must have had a reason.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that he did,” Rex said, pulling on his pants. “But Fives’ reasoning seems to work like yours – it makes sense to you, but not necessarily to anyone else.”

Kenobi blinked at the implied accusation of insanity. “My plans are excellent.”

“And regularly insane,” Rex retorted. “You’re as bad as General Skywalker. Does he know about this yet?”

“No,” Kenobi said, his face carefully neutral. “He doesn’t seem to be in the Temple. Perhaps you have an idea of where he is?”

“Maybe he’s visiting Commander Tano, sir?” Ryll suggested, far too innocently to actually be ignorant of the truth.

Kenobi seemed to grasp hold of that suggestion gratefully, and ignored the expressions on everyone else’s faces. “Yes, I imagine you’re right, Ryll. I’ll contact Senator Amidala’s apartment – he really should be brought up to date on the developments.”

With that, he handed Rex his boots and excused himself with a bow to all of them.

 

.oOo.

 

Things got worse. They couldn’t get to see Fives when he arrived at the medical centre: instead they were treated to what appeared to be verifiable reports that Fives had attacked the Chancellor, had escaped, and that all troops currently planetside were to participate in the search.

“You are all off-duty,” Skywalker said to Rex, Kix, Jesse, and Ryll at the end of the briefing. “You’ve been on the go for too long already – take some time to relax before you have to face this fierfek.”

“Thank you, sir,” Rex said, the automatic spokesman for the group, given his rank. “It would be nice to be able to get my head down for a few hours. Aurek, Besh, and Appo can handle the 501st in my absence.”

Rex and Ryll headed back to their barracks, whereas Jesse decided that 79s was the place to be. Kix felt weary enough that he would honestly have preferred to join the others and let Jesse go with his blessing, but something told him he should probably go. At least at 79s, the vast quantities of alcohol he felt like consuming wouldn’t be illicit. And, as luck would have it, it was where Fives showed up.

He didn’t seem crazy – not at first, anyway – and something about this whole affair with the chips stank. Kix couldn’t bring himself to believe that they were all being altered somehow, to make them less aggressive. There was something very, very wrong about this whole thing, and Fives wasn’t inclined towards conspiracy theories. Fives hadn’t been acting himself, but there were other things that could explain that, not just some missing inhibitor chip. In fact, his behaviour didn’t fit with the explanation of what the chip did. Fives needed to be heard, but equally he needed to be safe and Rex and Skywalker would be watched.

They needed help. So he placed a call. It just wasn’t the one Fives would be expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _riduur_ \- husband/wife/spouse  
>  _hibir_ \- pupil/student/apprentice  
>  _vod_ \- brother  
>  _fierfek_ \- curse (as in magical) - Huttese rather than Mando'a, because Anakin


	8. Counter-Conspiracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which plans are made.

Kix changed into his uniform, which he hated but would make him less recognisable given that not only did it hide his allegiance to the 501st, but the cap hid his hair and was more socially acceptable than wearing his helmet. He packed a spare uniform for Fives (armour and a cap – what had he been thinking? That was _more_ conspicuous, not less) and headed over to Senator Amidala’s with Jesse at his side. Jesse was grumbling over having to borrow armour, but Waxer wouldn’t mind, and Boil had insisted. The only people who would realise that there was a dead man walking around were ones who knew enough about the situation to keep their mouths shut. It was much better to appear 212 th than 501st right now, and an armed escort would sell the fact that they were searching the building for the renegade Fives.

Of course, if anyone checked their ID chips, they would be rumbled in an instant. Fortunately, they weren’t. What were the Coruscant Guards up… Ah, Kix recognised the artwork stencilled subtly onto the side of the lead trooper’s helmet. It was Lingo, who was clearly rebelling against the prescribed uniformity of the reds. Good for him.

Fives was locked in a well-appointed bedroom with Ahsoka, much more fancy than any clone would be used to. Senator Amidala ushered them through quickly and efficiently, wishing them luck as she sealed the door behind them.

Fives was a mess; uncoordinated and struggling to make sense. This wasn’t due to him lacking an inhibitor – Kix had a better explanation.

“Fives, did they give you something?”

Fives’ eyes rolled as he struggled to focus. “Yeah,” he forced out. “They… on the ship…”

Kix held his arm. “I need a sample. Can you hold still for me, vod’ika?”

“Yeah… yeah, I… You didn’t get them.”

Kix smiled as he exposed Fives’ forearm. “No, I thought Commander Tano was a better choice. We’ll get you cleaned up, then you can speak to General Skywalker.”

Fives’ head lolled away from Kix as he nodded. “Sure. I guess… be here sometime, right?”

Jesse and Ahsoka both laughed. Kix needed to focus more on getting the blood sample.

“Yeah, he’ll be here soon enough, Fives,” Ahsoka assured him. She hadn’t moved from her spot on the bed, where she was in constant contact with Fives. “Don’t you worry.”

“Important,” Fives insisted. “Need to tell… chips… in our heads. Jedi not safe.”

“He said that before,” Kix said, keeping a careful eye on the analyser. “About the Jedi.”

“He’s said it a lot since I picked him up too,” Ahsoka said. “He’s really fixating on it.”

“He’s been dosed with a spice variant,” Kix said, almost in disbelief. “It’s no wonder he’s reacting like this. There’s not a lot we can do until he comes down.” He turned his attention to Fives. “I can’t even sedate you, vod’ika: I’m sorry. It’s going to be rough.”

“Fives, I think we need to go talk somewhere,” Ahsoka said, carefully stroking Fives’ newly-shaved head. “I’m going to get Sabé to sit with you, okay?”

“Okay.”

She got up and left on silent feet. Sabé was a good choice – Fives had met her before, and seemed to have a bit of a thing for the unobtainable handmaiden. Even in this state, he would respond to her, behave for her.

It didn’t take long for Ahsoka to return with not just Sabé but Eritaé too in tow. They both carried water and food that would be easy to consume. He did like the senator’s handmaidens: they were all extremely practical, for all that they were generally surrounded by splendour. And having two of them to look after Fives was an excellent idea, rather than just the one. Delusional and uncoordinated or not, Fives was still well-trained and engineered for stronger musculature. He could easily overpower one of them, but at least a second might have a chance of getting a stun shot in.

Ahsoka led them to another room. This one was less ornate, but showed signs of habitation: specifically habitation by a certain teenaged Togruta. The bed had been replaced by a nest of cushions, the heating was turned up a few degrees, and there were pictures scattered about - holos Kix recognised the majority of as having been taken by Jesse.

She dropped to the floor, cross-legged and as comfortable as ever. Kix and Jesse followed suit - Kix with more ease than Jesse, since it wasn't something their armour had been designed for.

“Get comfy if you want, Jesse,” she offered. “I'm sure you can't be at ease in someone else's artwork, especially Waxer's.”

And that right there was one of the many reasons the vod’e loved their little sister - she knew them by name, could identify their armour, but had never needed it or their tats to know them.

“It was safer to not be ourselves,” Kix said as Jesse weighed up the offer.

“Believe me, I understand that. And I haven't had the chance to thank you for that night.”

“You would have done the same for us,” Jesse said, as he decided against removing any panels (Kix understood that – he wasn’t comfortable being out of armour during the current crisis). “In fact, you just did the same for us.”

Ahsoka sighed. “Do you think there's any truth in what Fives is saying? It seems an unlikely thing to make up, even if he is under the influence.”

“I agree,” Kix said. “We’ve been questioning the Kaminoans’ story for a while. It doesn't add up. We’ll have to wait until Fives is lucid enough to tell us straight what we need to hear.”

“Might be worth getting Skywalker, Kenobi, and Rex over here for that,” Jesse suggested. “Kenobi’s been in contact with us since we got back here; he agrees something isn't right but I think he's under pressure from the council.”

Ahsoka sighed. “That's going to be tricky then. The council just… it's like they're blinded to what's going on, like they just can't see clearly.”

“You… you think we should just do this without them?” Kix asked, appalled.

‘Maybe Ahsoka can give us another perspective?” Jesse suggested. “See what she makes of what we’ve discovered so far.”

Ahsoka nodded gravely. “Yeah, that makes sense. Because whatever this situation is, it’s messed up.”

Kix drummed his fingers against his leg while trying to work out how to summarise the last few days. When he hesitated, Jesse began telling her about what had happened with Tup on Ringo Vinda, and shuffling over to her side when her lekku bunched up in distress. She leaned against his shoulder, her eyes haunted as she learned not only about General Tiplar, but Tup too.

When they got onto the subject of the supposed virus, Jesse nudged Kix.

“That just doesn’t make sense,” Kix said. “I mean, there’s no trace of a virus in Ryll, Rex, or me, and we were in contact with Tup for a long time. If it’s some kind of biological weapon against us, it’s not very effective if it’s not transmissible. And the Kaminoans said we’ve all got a chip in our heads, makes us less aggressive, and that maybe Tup’s malfunctioned because of this mystery virus.”

“Less aggressive?” Ahsoka asked, sitting up. “For soldiers?”

“Nuts, right?” Jesse said. “But if they’re right, then we’re all being controlled by this thing.”

Ahsoka shook her head. “No, I don’t believe that. And why would Tup target Master Tiplar specifically? Why not just turn on the closest vod?”

“That, vod’ika, is an excellent question.”

They both had a point.

“It wasn’t just General Tiplar,” Kix said slowly, thinking about afterwards. “Once we got him back to the ship, he talked about killing Jedi, and he tried to go for General Tiplee too.”

“And Skyguy?”

Kix thought it over. “No. No, he passed right over General Skywalker. That makes even less sense.”

“I don’t like the idea of these chips,” Ahsoka said. “Seems too much like the ones they give to slaves to keep them compliant.” She sighed. “I bet Skyguy hates that too: he’s really not okay with anything like that.”

“He… hasn’t said much about it,” Jesse admitted. “He doesn’t say much these days.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Kix said. “He got a lot more chatty after he made a call to here, found out about our girl being here, and about the senator.”

Ahsoka’s brow markings twitched. “Really?”

“I’m not saying it was all in complete sentences, but yes.”

“First thing we need to do,” Jesse said, tracing the image of little Numa on his borrowed bucket. “We need to figure out if Fives is right, and we’ve got something in our heads.”

“Say we manage that,” Kix said, “and there probably is, because the Long-Necks admitted we do, what then?”

“Then we test the theory,” Jesse said, catching and holding Kix’s gaze. “You remove mine, see if I lose my mind.”

“No! No karking way!”

“I…” Ahsoka looked conflicted, biting her lip as her eyes darted from face to face. “My heart agrees with Kix, Jesse, but… I don’t think there’s any other way to find out. I wish there was.”

“Kix, I trust you. I know this is the right thing to do.”

Kix swallowed. He… he couldn’t do this. He couldn’t’ cut into his husband’s brain, remove some implant, and just trust that he would be okay. He _couldn’t_.

“We can’t anyway,” he said, bitterly. “We haven’t got the resources for something like that. Only the Temple or the GRMF have the kind of resources we need, and we don’t exactly have access to either.”

Jesse grinned brightly. “We don’t? The GRMF is out, but why not the Temple? We were there before, with Rex.”

“Rex?”

“He’s fine,” Kix assured her. “I had to quarantine him when he came back from Kamino, and needed the facilities to run a few tests. General Kenobi got me special permission.”

“And maybe he could again,” Ahsoka suggested with a grin – one of those mischievous ones that flashed her sharp teeth that Kix had missed seeing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod'ika_ \- little brother/sister  
>  _vod_ \- brother/sister (in this context, it means 'clone')


	9. Failsafe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the conspirators try to draw some conclusions.

“So, even if Fives is right – and I’m not saying he’s not – how did the chips get into us in the first place?” Kix asked the room at large. Fives had finally dropped off, and everyone had gathered there, including Senator Amidala. “I mean, the Jedi commissioned us, and they wouldn’t have put something in us that would make us turn on them.”

“It seems highly unlikely,” Sabé said bluntly. “Are you positive that Fives _is_ right?”

Jesse answered for him: “There’s too much that doesn’t add up. Fives might not be the best witness right now, but he’s the most reliable, and he’s been consistent throughout.”

Senator Amidala seemed to be hesitant about something. Everyone had been subdued since Fives had confirmed that Tup hadn’t made it, but her more so than anyone else. It seemed so unlike her.

“Padmé?”

She toyed with the jogun fruit slices on the plate in her lap. “On the way back from Geonosis, Obi-Wan said something. I don’t think he believed it any more than I did, but… well, everything would make more sense if it were true.

“He told me that Dooku said his master – the Sith Master – was in the Senate.”

Kix felt a kind of pressure in his head suddenly. It wasn’t strong, but it was definitely there.

“Kix, Jesse, are you okay?”

Kix grabbed his husband’s hand and squeezed. “No, but help me test something: keep explaining that. Because I can’t see how that’s possible, or the link, but…” He touched his fingers to where his head ached. “…something feels _wrong_.”

“And you want me to make it worse?” The Senator sounded unimpressed with that idea. “After what happened to poor Tup?”

“Please.”

“You two are unbelievable,” Ahsoka said as she shifted so that she was sat in front of them. She took a hand each and closed her eyes.

“Padmé, I’d like to hear your theory myself and, as much as I hate it, Kix might be on to something.”

“Well, the Separatists are unbelievably well-informed at times. There would have to be a mole high up to have the intelligence they do.”

“Agreed,” Ahsoka said. “And our idiot lab rats are stable so far.”

“Having someone in the Senate would give them the opportunity to do whatever they want with the war,” Amidala continued, “for their benefit. I can’t understand how they benefit from the war, but by working with Dooku they can plan everything to their advantage.”

“They’re destabilising the galaxy,” Sabé said. “Fewer people trust that the Republic can protect them, but the Seppies aren’t a better choice. And with the trouble on Mandalore, the Neutral Systems look weak too.”

“People would be grateful for stability,” Eritaé added. “They just want to be safe: most people don’t know what goes on politically, and they don’t care.”

“So, whatever comes next – whatever the Sith are planning – is an improvement,” Senator Amidala concluded. “No matter what that thing actually is.”

There were really only two people with enough power in the whole Republic to make this…

 

.oOo.

 

Kix resisted the urge to groan as he woke up, and curled closer to the warm body beside him.

“We are _not_ doing that again,” Ahsoka said firmly, and he had to take a minute to process.

“Wha… wha’happ’n’d?”

“You pushed whatever that thing in your head is too far,” Jesse informed him from somewhere that wasn’t the person next to him. “I don’t want to know what you were thinking, because mine didn’t go like yours did, but it’s clearly dangerous.”

“I agree.”

Oh, that was General Kenobi. When had he arrived?

“Anakin is busy with the manhunt for Fives here,” he said, and the bed dipped as he did so. “It seems ironic that his quarry is in the one place he would normally be.

“It seems that the two of you have been doing some investigations without me,” he continued, sounding kind of amused in that dry way he had. Kix raised his head, and found that Kenobi didn’t look amused at all: he looked worried, and there was no small amount of fondness for the two men lying prone on the bed. The other of whom was Fives, which seemed obvious now that he thought about it. And it wasn’t as if it was the first time he had woken up beside Fives rather than Jesse, either.

“Kix, are you well enough to discuss this now? Because I feel we may be running out of time.”

Kix pushed himself up. He felt a little dizzy, but otherwise okay. Jesse was holding out a portion of hydration fluid without a word. He took it and sipped. It tasted awful, but Kix knew it would do him good in the long run.

“I’m okay, sir.” He looked over to Fives, and took his pulse. Encouraged, he tested his temperature. His scanner would be more accurate, but Kix had trained to be able to assess a patient without technology if necessary.

“I think Fives is coming out of it too – he’s past the worst, anyway.”

“That is good news. Jesse and the ladies have filled me in on quite a bit, including the fact that Fives was drugged, and the experiment you were performing.”

“I left the room when they started going through that,” Jesse admitted. “It was bad enough the first time; I didn’t want to risk anything more after seeing what it did to you.”

Kenobi made a noise of agreement. “Your initial reaction was certainly interesting. I’m convinced, particularly since… Kix, would you tell me where the pain was for you?”

Kix touched his right temple, a little behind and above the eye socket.

“The same as Jesse, and the same as the scarring on Fives.”

He was right, Kix realised with a jolt. Fives did have a new scar, in exactly the same place.

“I’m convinced,” Kenobi repeated firmly. “This is related to this mysterious chip, and it clearly isn’t doing what we have been told. While what happened on to Tup Ringo Vinda may have been a result of degradation somehow, the trigger for yours is specific, and consistently so. It’s clearly designed to stop you thinking too much about the wrong thing. When you both forced it, by pushing past its control, it caused pain and a blackout.”

“What about the danger to the Jedi?” Jesse asked. “That doesn’t fit.”

Kenobi stroked his beard. “I suspect that this event is a secondary function. I fear that the primary is something much worse. If you’re both willing, I would like for a healer friend of mine to remove your chips. Perhaps then, Kix, you will be able to follow whatever thought you had to its logical conclusion.”

Kix had to stop himself from even trying to do it there and then.

“With pleasure, sir.”


	10. Conclusions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Jedi and the Clones discuss some things, and ideas are bandied about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> ARC Trooper Fives has uncovered the presence of bio-chips in the clone army; chips that don't seem to do what the their Kaminoan creators say they do. With the help of former Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano, Clone Medic Kix snatches Fives from under the noses of the troops pursuing him, and secretes him in the apartment of Galactic Senator Padmé Amidala.
> 
> With Fives drugged and his testimony questionable, the clones attempt to put together the pieces in a race to save themselves and their Jedi generals.

Rex was hovering in mid-air over him, a blur of face and torso surrounded by bright light. Why was he doing that? And, more importantly, how?

“Hey, sleepy,” he said. His voice was light, but it didn’t follow through to the grave expression on his face. “How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts,” Kix mumbled. “Did I hit it?”

“Kix.” That was another vod, off to his right. Kix turned, and blinked. It looked like... 

“Ryll?”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked, and Kix felt a swell of pride - his boy had stepped up, and was coping well. He wasn’t even shaking. As long as he had someone to watch out for him (to make him rest when the tremors inevitably did start), he was going to thrive when he was finally allowed to take his exams.

“We were at Senator Amidala’s, with Ahsoka,” he said slowly, retaining the presence of mind not to mention a certain someone else. “General Kenobi was there, and… we were talking about this thing with Tup and the virus.”

Ryll shook his head, smiling. “Well, you remember enough to not say certain things. I know about Fives.”

“Oh.” Kix sat up slowly, thinking. “Oh! My chip’s out?”

“Knew you’d get there. So, how do you feel?”

Kix shrugged. “Apart from the hole in my head, pretty much… they took my lines out, didn’t they?”

Ryll smirked. “Try looking at it more as ‘you match Jesse’.”

Kix laughed, and ran a hand over his shorn scalp. “Yeah, true. I’m not feeling homicidal, if that’s what you mean.”

“And how do you feel about our jetiise?”

“Skywalker’s a pain in the ass, but at least he’s ours,” Kix said without hesitation. “Kenobi –“ he glanced over at Rex, who was studying his reaction with interest: “he’s insane in the field, but we can trust him with anything.”

Rex grinned, which was more than a little bit in relief.

Ryll made a couple of notes on his pad. “You feel like killing either of them?”

Kix wanted to glare, but he knew that was something they desperately needed to check. “Not currently. We’ll see how I feel next time they next do something idiotic. Why? Oh, you think…”

He sighed and buried his head in his hands. “You think Tup’s actually did what it’s supposed to, without whatever the trigger is supposed to be.”

Rex gave him a haunted look. “I can’t think too hard about it, but you know what it is.”

He did? Kix couldn’t think what it could possibly be that would make them betray their jetiise.

“Can I see what you took out?”

“Sure,” Ryll said. “Come through to our secret lab.”

Kix eyed him carefully. “If you can make jokes like that, I’m not working you hard enough.”

“Ignore him,” Rex said to Ryll. “He gets extra cranky when he’s a patient. Come on, vod’ika.”

“I’m older than you!” Kix said indignantly.

Rex led them out of the recovery room Kix had woken up in and along a corridor to… well, as it turned out, Ryll hadn’t been joking that much: it was a medical lab. In there was Jesse and Fives, along with Ahsoka and General Kenobi, and a couple of the jetiise healers Kix had worked with before.

Ahsoka wrapped herself around him in an attack-hug, and he couldn’t help but relax into her familiar embrace.

Fives looked alert, if not somewhat pissed. Kix could appreciate that: he was getting there himself.

“My turn,” Rex said, steering Kix towards a stool between Fives and Jesse. “We’ve got three positive results – I think I’m risking more by keeping this karking thing in my head.”

“Agreed, Captain Rex,” Healer Awaraven said. “Even if we can’t work out for certain what this does, we can verify that it doesn’t do what the Kaminoans say they do.”

“Sirs, I appreciate why no-one has said about mine,” Ryll said, “and if you really think it’ll do more harm to remove it then I’ll not say anything else, but I’d rather have it out, if it’s all the same.”

“If I might,” Healer Tayla said, turning on her stool so that she faced Ryll, “the triggering of this chip might be highly detrimental to your unique neuropathology; more so than for the rest of your brothers.”

Awaraven nodded. “Quite so. We’ll remove yours as soon as Captain Rex’s surgery has been complete although, as you know, the anaesthetic is more difficult for you. Fortunately, Captain Kix has kept copious notes, and I trust his judgement.”

Rex and Ryll turned to head out with the two Jedi healers. 

“K’oyacyi,” Kix said. It wasn’t a ‘goodbye’, the standard interpretation of the phrase. Kix genuinely meant it as an instruction to them both.

“Ven’narir, vod,” Rex replied. He still looked tense, and Kix knew that wouldn’t ease now until this had been resolved.

 

.oOo.

 

Once they were gone, Kix turned his attention to Fives.

“How are you?”

Fives shrugged. “Well, I’m not tripping any more,” he said. “That’s a bright side. But, I’m freezing, I’m a fugitive, and I’m being set up.”

Kix rested a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You’re not alone, though,” he pointed out. “We all believed you enough to go under the knife.”

“And I will continue to attempt to persuade the rest of the Council,” Kenobi added.

“I’m not sure there’s much point, sir,” Kix said. “Not if the Sith can mess with their heads like I think he can.”

Kenobi met his eyes. “I hate to have to agree, but it does seem like the only reasonable explanation.”

“It makes perfect sense,” Ahsoka growled. “It’s scary that someone could be that powerful, but…”

Kenobi’s gaze was on Kix, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

“You want to know where I was going with my thoughts when I blacked out?”

Kenobi nodded. “I do. I have a suspicion: I want to see whether you have reached the same conclusion.”

“Someone in the Senate, with enough power to pull strings with the army? Someone high enough up to feed intelligence to the Seppies? There’s really only two people powerful enough to even consider and, well, the Chancellor could be a puppet, but if Dooku and Ventress are anything to go by, the Sith are an egotistic, megalomaniacal lot. The head bad guy isn’t going to hide behind someone else. He’d just hide in plain sight instead, gathering enough power to take over everything.”

Kenobi was nodding, and Ahsoka looked horrified. Fives didn’t appear surprised (and no wonder – he was lucky to be alive!). Jesse – for once, Kix was struggling to read him.

“But… Skyguy’s friends with him.”

“That’s why he isn’t here, isn’t it?” Jesse asked, his voice lacking any inflection. “Because you suspected, and his head’s probably been messed up more than ours.”

Kenobi nodded sadly. “The pieces do seem to fit, don’t they? But it’s taken this unfortunate event to allow those pieces to slot into place, for some reason. I suspect that this was not part of the Chancellor’s – Lord Sidious’ – plan. Whatever spell he has cast over us to stop us from seeing has come apart slightly.

“And yes, Jesse, you are absolutely correct: I have kept this from Anakin on purpose, precisely because he is close to… to Sidious. I think Ahsoka suspects why Sidious wants Anakin – there is a reason, and I’ll share it when Rex and Ryll return. I’ll have to start getting some of my troops here too, but that would look too suspicious at the moment. For the time being, Anakin is being kept busy with the search, and we will fill him in when we are certain he is not a danger to himself or others.”

Ahsoka’s lekku were bunched unhappily and Kix had absolutely no idea what to say to help her process this. That their boss, the head of the army, was the Sith Lord they had been searching for all this time – that _their_ general was _friends_ with him – was a bit too much to take.

“Come on, show me what this is all about,” he said, in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

Kenobi reached over and picked a slide off the workbench. He handed it over wordlessly. Kix held it up to the light: it didn’t look like much, just any old sample that the healers here could have been examining: a couple of cells deep and smaller than his thumb.

“The healers can tell you the specifics,” Jesse said when Kix lowered it, baffled, “because there were words that went over my head, but best they’ve been able to describe it to us is that this disrupts the part of our brains that makes us us, and turns us into flesh droids. We’d follow orders, and eat, sleep and shit, but nothing else.”

“One order, specifically,” Fives added darkly. “Contingency Order Sixty-Six.”

Kix had to think that one over because, while he had learned the contingency orders, he had had more important things to fill his brain with instead, like how to make his brothers not die. And he had a Jesse for that kind of thing.

“They’re the ridiculous, worst case scenario orders, aren’t they? The ones that cover things like who takes command if the Chancellor is unfit for duty, or eliminating an asshole via mass-execution, or handling a bio-attack, or…”

“Or if that waste of oxygen decides that the Jedi are ‘acting against the Republic’,” Jesse concluded. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“But, one the plus side, if we can get someone to initiate one of the Orders to remove him from office, he can’t give Order Sixty-Six,” Fives added. 

“I’m all for Order Sixty-Five myself,” Jesse said bitterly. At Kenobi’s questioning expression, he quoted: “‘In the event of either (i) a majority in the Senate declaring the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) to be unfit to issue orders, or (ii) the Security Council declaring him or her to be unfit to issue orders, and an authenticated order being received by the GAR, commanders shall be authorised to detain the Supreme Commander, with lethal force if necessary, and command of the GAR shall fall to the acting Chancellor until a successor is appointed or alternative authority identified as outlined in Section 6 (iv).’”

Their jetii looked faintly horrified.

“Order Sixty-Six is pretty much the same, only it’s less vague about lethal force,” Kix said. “I get why they’re so angry. Give me some time and I’ll probably get there too.”

“There are a few contingencies that can be used to remove the Chancellor from power,” Fives said. “Order Sixty-Five is the most extreme, but it’s probably also the best one, because ‘acting Chancellor’ is a vague idea at best. Order Four throws command to the vice chair, and he’s probably a puppet, _and_ you’d have to ‘incapacitate’ the bastard; Order Five goes to the Chief of the Defence Staff, and xe’s probably no better.”

Kenobi blinked. “Sidious gave you three different ways he could be removed from control of the army, just to hide an order about the Jedi?”

“Fives is right, though,” Kix pointed out. “Given how manipulative the Sith are, even if we removed him from power somehow, his replacements are likely to just be proxies. At least an acting Chancellor has to be nominated diplomatically and, good as he is, I don’t think he could get to everyone in the Senate. If someone like Senator Amidala or Senator Organa was nominated, we’d be absolutely fine.”

“Until they get assassinated by a Sith,” Jesse pointed out. Well, wasn’t he just a total ray of sunshine today?

“Well,” Kenobi said, decisively, “we shall just have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Now, failing an overall majority in the Senate, did you say it was the Security Council we have to convince?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod('ika)_ = (little) brother  
>  _jetii(se)_ = Jedi (singular/plural)  
>  _k'oyacyi_ = Farewell, goodbye (or, in this case, literally "Stay alive")  
>  _ven'narir_ = Will do (lit. future tense of 'do')


	11. Democracy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the 212th learn of the conspiracy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> ARC Trooper Fives has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens the whole army - a bio-chip implanted in the brain of every clone. With the help of Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, some of the 501st have had their chips removed. Now they need to plan carefully in order to prevent Chancellor Palpatine from unleashing a galactic disaster.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Mando'a translations, as ever, hoverable and at the bottom. There's more than usual.

They had to rotate back onto active duty sooner than they would like: Skywalker would get suspicious if they just disappeared for too long, and having Skywalker suspicious could turn out very badly if Kenobi turned out to be right. Even if he was a sleeper agent, like the clone army was, his having any knowledge whatsoever about what was going on could be disastrous.

Also, the 501st cycling on duty meant that they were relieving the 212th. That meant that Kenobi could get on with having at least some of his men freed from the threat of becoming meat-drones. If Kenobi was sensible (and he was, often, when it involved his men), he would take Cody, Boil, Odd Ball, and Pipedream first. They had debated on how the orders might be disseminated among the men, since it would probably have to be the Chancellor’s voice as the trigger, but usual protocol suggested that such orders would go to the officers first. By removing them from the chain, hopefully the others would be protected.

All of them agreed that was probably short-sighted, but it was also better than just taking in men at random and hoping for the best.

Kix was glad that Skywalker didn’t ask them to remove their buckets for the quick briefing, because his and Rex’s completely shorn heads might well have been a giveaway, along with the matching surgical scars they sported. The bacta patches had done their job and soon there would be next to nothing to see, but right now they were quite obvious.

He ended up leading his own unit of men – the ones that Fives himself would normally take – in the search. Understandably, they were extremely reluctant, and incredibly confused when Kix briefly glanced around the first alley of their assigned sector before calling to move on.

Starfall, Fives’ nominal second, fell into step with him.

“Uh, sir?”

“Did you see any sign of Fives, vod?”

“Um, no, sir, but…”

“Do you _want_ to see any sign of him?”

There was the briefest of hesitations in Starfall’s stride as he figured it out. “Well, no, sir, but I’d rather we found him than some of the Reds.”

Kix snorted. “Do you really think Fives is stupid enough to get caught by them?”

A couple of the other men laughed.

“Nah,” one of them – Uur – said dismissively. “Our Fives is too crazy to get caught by those mirsh'kyramude.”

“Sir… Tion gar kar'tayli valii Rayshe'ase?”

The use of the Mando’a was nice, especially since their generals had encouraged them to claim their cultural identity and it therefore wasn’t suspicious (and only Kenobi spoke it among the Jedi, as far as Kix knew). He wasn’t sure whether or not he approved of the translation of Fives’ name though – a name was a name, after all: his own was Iridonian; Rex’s was Aurebesh (and he would cheerfully murder anyone who translated it); Jesse’s of Jedi origin and didn’t have a specific, translatable meaning – but he would let it pass because it meant the sentence wouldn’t automatically make anyone listening in suspicious. Not that anyone should be listening in…

“Meh ni nari, tion ni sirbu?”

He left a pause, then said “Ni nukar’tayli.” It was true, in the strictest terms: he wasn’t completely sure whether Fives was still at the Temple, or whether he was back at Senator Amidala’s place. Or, indeed, some other hiding place they had come up with.

They knocked on a couple of doors, asked passers-by. No-one asked again. Not out loud, anyway: as they moved on from one street to the next, Starfall gestured just inside Kix’s eyeline, using field signals:

Not here. It was accompanied by a tilt of his head that made it into a question rather than a simple statement (which was the signal’s original intention).

Kix considered carefully before shaking his head sharply once. That was admission enough that he at least had a vague awareness of Fives’ whereabouts. Starfall relaxed visibly, which was something he was going to have to fix before they got back to base, because it wouldn’t do to have anyone looking too upbeat under the circumstances.

They broke for a snack and some water halfway through the shift cycle. The men handed out at least half of their nutrient bars to street kids bold enough to approach them.

“I don’t get Coruscant,” Tion said, frowning at his bar. “There’s thousands of people up there who have too much, and thousands down here who can’t get enough. Shouldn’t it… I don’t know, even out?”

Kix sighed. The Force bless idealistic kids. “It should. Our senator argues a lot about that. But there’s too many people up there who just don’t care.”

“That’s just… That’s insane,” Uur said, eloquent as ever. “I know natural-borns don’t exactly see things the same way we do, but what’s the point of the senate if they can’t even organise enough food for everyone?”

Kix lost track of any conversation at that point, because he got up to have a piss and a think. He knew there were politicians who fought for people like the ones they were seeing – senators like Amidala, Organa, and Chuchi – but most of them weren’t. How long had that been the case for? Was it just something that had happened since Palpatine had come along? Was he the cause of the poverty that was rife in the underworld?

He had no way to judge – the whole place was shabby, but the level of dilapidation was just something he couldn’t judge. Palpatine had been a senator way before Kix was even created, which gave him absolutely no basis to judge the timescale.

It was a question he could ask the jetiise later.

 

.oOo.

 

Cody and the 212th were still at the barracks they generally shared with the 501st when Kix and his men returned after their patrol. Kix discovered this because instead of being able to face-plant on his bunk, given that the only sleep he had gotten in the last three(?) days had been either under anaesthetic or when he had pushed his chip too far (and neither of those really counted), Cody accosted him at his bunk and marched him into the cupboard he and Rex laughingly called their office. Their shipboard offices were more generous.

In there was squeezed Rex, Boil, Odd Ball, Ryll (twitching like mad – dammit), and… oh, by everything holy…

“Take that kriffing bucket off, vod,” he said with a sigh. “It’s off-putting.”

“He’s got a point,” Rex said, dry as ever.

Fives pulled his latest helmet off and perched it on the desk. “Hey, it’s getting me around.”

“It’s bad enough you’re wearing the wrong colours,” Kix said. “Staring at _Echo’s_ bucket in the wrong colours is just plain weird.”

“Any news?”

Cody shook his head and pulled his own bucket off, revealing a newly-shorn scalp and a healing wound. He ducked his head for inspection at Kix’s unspoken command, and stood straight again when the medic made a noise of satisfaction (closed up nicely, no sign of infection).

“Except we’re going to need name badges for a while, nothing.”

“You’ll be fine, vod,” Rex told him, rolling his eyes. “At least you’ve got an easily identifiable feature. I can’t wait for my hair to grow back in. Maybe I’ll stop shaving instead – at least my beard grows faster than my hair.”

Kix considered that for far too long, because his gaze jumped from Rex to Odd Ball to Ryll – all similarly clean-shaven and unmarked. At least Ryll was a good deal younger than the rest of them – he still had that too-thin look of someone at the end of their growth cycle.

“Just realised how much I stopped looking at the tiny differences,” he said into the quiet room. “from when we were all completely uniform. Before we started making ourselves individual.”

Fives rubbed at his beard. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

The door opened, making Fives flinch and duck down behind Odd Ball. It turned out to be Jesse and Wooley.

“Space for two more?”

Kix tried not to look too relieved: Jesse sounded more like his old self again.

The pair of them slipped into the small space remaining in the centre of the room.

“Jeez, Cody, you’re the highest ranking clone in the whole army,” Jesse remarked. “Can’t you get a bigger office than this?”

“It’s not really built for nine,” Cody admitted. “I think the most we’ve ever had in here before is four.”

“Maybe we could find a better spot next time?”

“Can we get to the matter at hand?” Rex snapped. “We’ve got some big problems here, and only a few in on the secret.”

“Most important being that sooner or later, our resident Sith Lord is probably going to panic about not being able to find Fives,” Odd Ball suggested.

“Yeah,” Cody said. “Because the longer he’s free, the more chance there is that someone will believe him.”

“Exactly,” Rex said. “So we need to work out what his endgame is. Is it as simple as just having us kill our jetiise? Because I can’t see how he’s going to sell that to the public right now.”

“I don’t know,” Wooley said. “Public opinion is pretty low, after the bombing. There was some sympathy when it looked like an outsider was responsible, but after Commander Tano’s trial, and Commander Offee’s confession…? It’s bad.”

“But the Jedi are still heroes for a lot of people,” Ryll argued. “The people on worlds we’ve liberated, where they’ve seen our jetiise save them from occupation.”

“There has to be something… Seriously, I know we’re plotting sedition, but can we go somewhere I can breathe?” Jesse whined.

“He’s worried about space?” Fives grumbled. “The guy who gets to keep his climate-controlled bucket? Bit rich.”

Cody sighed. “Let me see if I can get a meeting room in the Temple. At least we can make it look like we’re co-ordinating the search for Fives.”

Beside Kix, he raised his arm and tapped a message out on his comm.

“With Ryll?” Wooley asked. “I mean, no offence, vod’ika, but you’re not exactly a natural fit for a group of squad leaders.”

Ryll waved it off with a trembling hand. The kid had been on the go as long as the rest of them, probably. He was doing really well to just have the shakes. “You guys go ahead. I can’t say I don’t want to be involved, but I could probably use some rest too.”

“We’ll fill you in later, kid,” Rex promised.

Ryll nodded gratefully, just as there was a bleep from Cody’s comm unit.

“We’ve got a go from General Kenobi,” he announced. “Head out; keep Fives in the middle.”

Cody turned to Kix as everyone shuffled out and whispered: “You know I’m going to want him back one day, right?”

Kix considered it carefully before snorting and shaking his head. “Prove you can look after a medic first.”

Cody looked wounded. “Or, let me have one who can look after himself.”

Kix shrugged. “He’s never going to be allowed to be a CMO until he can take his exams. And he’ll never be allowed to do that because he’s not gone through the medic programme.”

“And I care about that as much as you do,” Cody said as he put his bucket on. “I know he’s competent. In fact, I know he’s damn good.”

Kix sighed and helmeted up, flicking his comm over to Cody’s band. “He is, but he’s still got a lot to learn and, if we’re right, we haven’t got that long before everything goes completely to osik.”

Cody said nothing, which was more than a little worrying.

 

.oOo.

 

Once they reached their meeting room in the Temple, and found General Kenobi waiting for them, looking as exhausted as Kix felt, Kix managed to get his first good look at Fives’ new paint job. Taking a leaf from Jesse’s book, he was hiding among the 212th instead of being in 501st blue (which was probably sensible), and he had borrowed from Waxer once more. The coloured flash was that smaller ‘V’ at the throat that Boil shared, but bordered by a thinner gold stripe that echoed Fives’ own markings, the ones he had had since becoming an ARC trooper. His helmet was pure Echo - those twin stripes that made Kix’s heart ache, even in the wrong colour.

What had they been reduced to, having a brother hide in the art of dead vod’e? And how long would it take some of the older vod’e to realise what they were seeing? Or some of the generals, for that matter?

Kenobi looked stricken when he realised, but recovered himself nicely as he activated the privacy screens around the room.

“Do I take it there is a consensus?”

“If you mean about the chips being bantha crap? I think the evidence speaks for itself,” Boil said uneasily. “But do we all agree with the crazy things Ryll said… Well, I’m listening.”

Fortunately, Kenobi was well-used to Boil’s acerbic nature, and didn’t bat an eyelid.

“I’ve got to admit to feeling a bit uneasy about it,” Odd Ball said. “But it does make sense. I wish it didn’t.”

“Don’t we all?” Kenobi asked. “I presume you have asked to meet to discuss where we go from here?”

“Yes sir,” eight weary voices echoed.

Kenobi shook his head. “I cannot be your superior in this. We have to all be equals; you have to all feel your opinions can be heard, and you can walk away without reprisal. Unless things go horribly wrong, of course, in which case I am absolutely your superior officer, and you were only acting according to my orders.”

“I don’t think it works like that, Obi-Wan,” Rex said, his expression soft and unguarded. “We’re either equals, or we’re not. And I don’t think even saying we were following your orders would protect us from reprisals for this. We all know what we’re getting into.”

The doors opened, admitting a familiar adolescent.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ahsoka panted as she pushed her hood from her montrals. “Breaking in is harder than I remember.”

Kenobi afforded her a carefully bland look. “Which of course is something that you have never done before, and certainly would never have been encouraged by and/or taught to you by your master.”

She snorted. “Please. Skyguy is as subtle at breaking into the Temple as he is about Padmé.”

The clones of the 212th all chuckled.

“Just as well you closed the book on that one, vod,” Odd Ball said. “You'd have bankrupted the pot.”

The barracks were going to explode the day the vod’e found out about the twins.

“I have a much better way in,” Ahsoka continued, grinning. “Or, I had – I’m just taller than I used to be. And I'm not supposed to be here - I can't stroll through the corridors like I belong.

“So, what's been going on while I checked in with Padmé? Are we planning on overthrowing the Chancellor?”

“We’ve not had a chance to discuss anything yet,” Kenobi said. “The 501st have been on duty for the last sixteen hours, and I have been bringing the 212th up to date on the situation so far.”

Ahsoka’s eyes took in the newcomers in gold. Her gaze settled on Fives.

“I leave for a couple of weeks and the 501st are all running to the 212th.”

He afforded her a weak smile. “Not sure how much longer we can keep this up anyway,” he said. “We’ve identified a problem.”

Kenobi and Ahsoka looked around. Kix felt it spoke volumes about how much they both regarded the opinions of the vod’e that neither of them ventured a guess of their own, nor did they push any.

Even though it had been Odd Ball who had made the observation back at the barracks, he deferred to Cody, and Cody deferred to Rex, who had clearly been thinking along the same lines as Odd Ball for some time. And found it easier to speak to Kenobi on an equal footing.

“We’re working on the fairly safe assumption that Order Sixty-Six is the Sith’s endgame,” he began. “But realistically, they’ve got to set the groundwork to make it look like a genuine, legal order. Otherwise, Sith or not, the rest of the galaxy is going to revolt against them.”

“Reasonable,” Kenobi said, nodding and stroking his beard thoughtfully.

“The fault in Tup’s chip, and Fives’ discovery, can’t be part of that plan; and every minute Fives is free risks him being able to find someone willing to listen to him. Especially since he’s no longer dosed up on spice.”

“Speaking of which,” Fives put in, “I know I was fairly off my face, but I’ve been thinking, and I’m pretty sure he mind-tricked General Ti. She had that weird, dazed look that people get.”

Ahsoka’s lekku spiralled in surprise. Kenobi merely looked resigned. “Her testimony is suspect then. I assumed as much, but to know that he can do something so drastic to someone as experienced as Master Ti is unsettling. Thank you, Fives.”

Fives nodded sharply in acknowledgement, and turned his attention back to Rex, who picked the narrative back up.

“None of us think that letting Palpatine worry for too long can lead to anything good: he’s as likely to just have us kill off our jetiise anyway and deal with the consequences afterwards. I’m sure he’s clever enough to be able to plant something on you that would make it look like you were doing something ‘harmful to the interests of the Republic’.”

“I fear you are correct,” Kenobi said, but I also cannot condone you turning yourself in, Fives. He will simply have you killed, and I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself like that.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea either,” Cody said quickly, making Fives’ mouth snap closed, cutting off the protest Kix could almost already hear. “If Palpatine can mind-trick a Jedi, or even the whole of the council – sorry, sir – then he’ll not even break a sweat with you, vod’ika, no matter what training we’ve got.”

“Cody’s right, Fives,” Ahsoka said, her voice soft as she took a seat next to him. “He’d find out exactly who you’ve been in contact with, then come after all of us. We’ll have to act fast, but you being here is safer than you getting yourself caught.”

Fives met her eyes levelly. “Okay, so I can’t be caught. Alive.”

She grabbed at him, strong fingers curling around the white plates of his armour.

“No.”

It was a sentiment echoed by Kenobi, which made Fives give a weak smile.

“Sounds like you two are outvoted.”

“Not sure I’d say it like that, exactly, vod,” Jesse said. “I mean, just because we’ve all been raised to believe we’re just replaceable gears in the machine of the Grand Army, doesn’t mean that I actually believe you should suicide by Red Guard on the off-chance it might buy us a little time.”

“I don’t think any of us believe that,” Cody chimed in, and six alike heads shook in agreement, Kix’s included. “As Jesse says, we’re trained to consider the tactical advantage, that’s all.”

“And it’s enormous,” Fives said stubbornly. “You have a better chance if I die in that shiny armour than if I live on the lam.”

“What if you manage to ‘escape off-world’?” Wooley suggested. “Seems to me it would be much easier for us to fake something happening to you in space than here on Coruscant.”

There were lots of murmurs of agreement and, with Fives most definitely outnumbered, they put their heads together to plot what would come next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod(e)_ \- brother(s), or clone(s) - can be inferred from context  
>  _mirsh'kyramude_ \- brain assassins (I love Mando'a; it's so descriptive)  
>  _Tion gar kar'tayli valii Rayshe'ase?_ \- Do you know where Fives is?  
>  _Meh ni nari, tion ni sirbu?_ \- If I did, would I say?  
>  _Ni nukar’tayli_ \- I don't know  
>  _jetiise_ \- Jedi (plural)  
>  _vod'ika_ \- little brother  
>  _osik_ \- shit


	12. Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which plans are made to save Fives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> ARC Trooper Fives has uncovered a conspiracy that threatens the whole army - a bio-chip implanted in the brain of every clone. With the help of Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi, some of the 501st and 212th have had their chips removed, and are aware that the instigator of the plot is none other than Chancellor Palpatine himself. With Fives' life still in danger, his friends must plan to save him.
> 
> * * *
> 
> As always, Mando'a at the end

They swung into action. Jesse utilised some of his more dubious talents to reprogram Fives’ ID chip to broadcast Echo’s original CT number of 21-0408, but Fives refused to take his dead brother’s name too (and rightly so, everyone agreed. Numbers were one thing, but a name was _everything_ ). That, he took inspiration for from Waxer.

“What was that word Numa used?” he asked, tracing the image of the little Twi’lek girl on their fallen brother’s bucket. “Dammit, Echo would have known.”

“Nerra,” Boil said, his eyes soft. “Means vod in Ryl.”

Kix was impressed: three languages in the space of five words.

Fives was nodding thoughtfully. “That’s it. At least if I can’t be me, I can still be a brother.”

“Nerra it is,” Jesse said, finishing off his highly illegal modification of the service records.

(They had opted to return to the barracks for that – that way, Kenobi could at least claim that he didn’t know exactly what they were doing. There was no way they were implicating their jetii for everything, and this was something they could save him from.)

“Now the only thing is this,” Fives – Nerra – said with a sigh, touching his tattoo. “Don’t suppose you’ve got a slice to erase… _no_ , Kix!”

Kix just raised his eyebrows. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t need to,” Fives grumbled as their vod’e grinned and Ahsoka snickered. “You spend far too much time with us to have not thought it.”

“So I’ll keep surgical intervention on the back burner then,” he responded, his face the picture of innocence.

“There are other ways,” Ahsoka suggested. “I’m pretty sure that Alyx probably has something in xir locker that would help.”

Kix wasn’t alone in his confusion: only Odd Ball, Alyx’s squadmate, seemed to understand Ahsoka’s reference to the 212th’s sister.

(Alyx identified xirself as female not long after xe realised that transgenderism was a thing, but preferred to use a gender-neutral pronoun. For now, at least.)

“I’m pretty sure that we could at least get a decent colour match based on what Alyx uses, even if it’s not exact.”

Ahsoka sighed at the blank faces surrounding her. “Men, honestly. Fives, you could use a bit of concealer to cover your tattoo until it’s safe for to be you again. It’s a cosmetic designed to cover up small patches of skin that’s discoloured for whatever reason.” She grinned mischievously and added: “Or for sometimes making white bits orange and orange bits white.”

The younger among the vod’e looked horrified. Rex and Fives seemed to understand, and Kix had to admit that he could see this one both ways.

“But… why?” Wooley asked. “You… you’re already unique.”

“Being unique isn’t always a good thing,” Rex said, rubbing at the golden stubble on his scalp. “Being unique was hard for me: I could never hide in the crowd, I was always the one picked on in training, pushed harder than anyone else because I was the obvious target. Ahsoka’s face has been on every news feed in the Republic: she can’t hide either.”

Kix had been there too, and knew it was true. Any vod who stood out ended up being pushed harder, because the Kaminoans saw them as flaws in the product, and they had to prove that whatever genetic aberrations they had didn’t detract from their overall quality. Kix had been slow to hit puberty, and another vod in his squad had been not only brunet but left handed too. They had also struggled, and Kix would have loved to be able to just be another face in the squad, once upon a time. Now the idea left him cold.

Ahsoka nodded in agreement with Rex. “It’s nice to not have to be me sometimes – just to go out and not be recognised.”

Fives snorted. “I get that. Even if I hate having to do all this, I get the desire to pass under the sensor grid.”

Jesse snorted. “Yeah, that makes sense. Even if the civvies can’t tell us apart, there’s no hiding what we are. Not here, at least. It’d be nice just to be able to walk down the street, take in the sights, and not be recognised.”

“Concealer?” Fives said to Ahsoka, bringing the conversation back to the pertinent point.

She nodded. “It’s pretty easy to pick up in stores, but getting the right colour can be tricky. That’s why I thought about Alyx: xir skin is going to be almost exactly the same shade as yours, give or take a bit of exposure to sunlight.”

“I’ll ask xir,” Odd Ball said. “Xe knows how to be discrete.”

“And if it doesn’t work for you, vod, there are always…”

Fives glared at Kix and he shut up. But then his brother seemed to slump in resignation.

“Last option,” he said softly. “Only if we absolutely have to.”

Kix nodded sympathetically. He knew he had felt the same way about losing his lightning bolts, and his hair would grow back soon enough – what Kix would need to do to Fives would be fairly permanent (although he would do his utmost to leave the skin intact enough that the artwork could be replaced in due course).

 

.oOo.

 

With Fives still on the loose, the 501st were grounded. Apparently, the Council felt that their presence would be of benefit to the manhunt. Ahsoka sardonically pointed out that they probably _actually_ thought it would be far too easy for Fives to stow away offworld with the 501 st.

That caused some amusement when Jesse fed it back to their friends, and some not inconsiderable relief.

“At least they’re not looking at us,” Boil said, slinging his arm around his newest sergeant. “We dodged that particular bolt.”

“We haven’t been given our next orders yet, either,” Cody pointed out. “Just because suspicion is mainly elsewhere doesn’t mean we’re out of the picture altogether.”

“All the more reason to move as fast as we can,” Rex said by way of agreement.

“And, of course, I’ll need a medic who won’t question why Sergeant Nerra has a five tattooed on his temple,” Cody said thoughtfully. “Just in case he gets himself injured.”

Kix rolled his eyes. Cody was dropping more and more hints that he wanted Ryll back with the 212th, and this particular one had a certain degree of logic to it. However…

“I said before, prove you can take care of a medic,” he growled. “You keep getting them killed.”

“Stick him with Boil,” Wooley suggested gleefully. “The droids are too scared of him to aim anywhere near.”

“Kix,” Cody said seriously, ignoring Wooley (mostly, anyway), “if you can tell me _why_ I keep losing my medics, maybe I can do something about it. If it’s just a case of ‘I need a one who can take care of himself in the field’, well, I’m asking for one.”

Kix had absolutely no argument for that. It looked like he had as until the 212th got their marching orders to cram as much useful knowledge into Ryll’s head as possible.

Damn, he was going to miss that kid.

 

.oOo.

 

Odd Ball really came through with a plot to fake Fives’ escape from Coruscant. His quirky astromech had been badly damaged in their last battle – not so bad that it wasn’t salvageable, or functional, but enough that repair was going to be a long, costly process – and he and Alyx managed to talk it into acting as the ‘pilot’ for one last mission instead. They installed it into a standard shuttle and it was Jesse who, in blank armour, ‘sneaked’ onto the purloined vessel and took off.

In a move inspired by Fives’ faked escape from Kamino, Jesse jumped ship over 500 Republica, aiming for a secluded balcony away from any camera droids, with the idea that he would be brought to a safe landing by Ahsoka while R5 and the shuttle disappeared off into the atmosphere and, if all went according to plan, jumped to hyperspace before anyone could shoot it down.

(Although if it didn't go to plan, it would make things a bit more difficult, from the point of view of forensic evidence, but they could probably work it out anyway and then Fives would be considered ‘dead’ rather than ‘missing’.)

Kix watched Jesse’s leap with his heart in his mouth. He knew Ahsoka was capable – he _knew_ it – but it was normally Skywalker who was responsible for catching a falling body. Normally Rex’s falling body. And Ahsoka seemed a little twitchy, although she was hiding it well.

Maybe she was just nervous about being responsible for Jesse’s wellbeing. Or maybe he was just seeing things that weren’t there.

Beside him, Senator Amidala sighed.

“Somehow I am not surprised that not only can Ahsoka do this, but that you apparently see this as something normal.” Her tone was dry.

“We trained to be ready for anything our jetiise could throw at us,” he responded, not able to tear his eyes from the shape hurtling towards them in freefall, “but I never thought they would be throwing and catching us.”

He could feel her eyes on him. “I take it this isn’t your cup of tea then?”

He shook his head vehemently. “Makes me glad I don’t spend all that much time right on the front lines. Jesse…”

He swallowed, his eyes still on his riduur as his fall finally slowed. The senator’s hand curled around his, squeezing gently, reassuringly. Assured that Jesse was safe, he glanced down and saw that Amidala’s eyes were filled with understanding that was probably hard-won.

Jesse, oblivious, landed gracefully on his feet and removed the foreign, blank bucket, laughing.

“He won’t understand,” Amidala said softly, her eyes now on the balcony. “You just have to hope he’ll carry on coming home to you.”

“Thanks, Commander,” Jesse said all too cheerfully to Ahsoka at the end of the balcony, his voice drifting over to them. “That was awesome.”

Kix squeezed Amidala’s hand back. “I always do. And it’s not like either of us is helpless either. Or safe.”

She chuckled, somewhat weakly. “You’re right, of course. And we’re less safe by the day, particularly since we are up to our necks in this conspiracy.”

Ahsoka and Jesse made their way into the apartment, grinning broadly. Jesse’s arm was slung over Ahsoka’s shoulders in a manner that looked careless, but was actually carefully avoiding putting pressure on her growing central lek.

“So far, so good,” Ahsoka said. “As long as R5 does its job, we’ll all be okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod('e)_ \- brother(s)  
>  _jetii(se)_ \- Jedi (singular  & plural)  
>  _riduur_ \- spouse/husband/wife
> 
> * * *
> 
> This is the last chapter I actually have in reserve. I am trying to pull something together for the Banking Clan arc, but it's proving tricky.


	13. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kix takes a trip to Scipio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Former Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano and Clone Trooper Jesse successfully faked ARC Trooper Fives' escape from Coruscant. With Fives safely hidden among the 212th, normal duties resume.
> 
> The Senate envoys to the Banking Clan have been accused of espionage, and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and Clone Medic Kix are sent to Scipio to take custody of the two criminals.
> 
> * * *
> 
> Greetings from sunny Cyprus! Mando'a translations at the end, as always.

The Muuns only allowed him to set foot on Scipio because they had no idea how to treat a concussed Togruta. Fortunately, Kix had a lot of practice in that area. Unfortunately, it meant he only had Skywalker as backup – they hadn’t been able to bring any of their vod’e.

“Kix, I’m fine,” Ahsoka insisted half-heartedly as he knelt to examine her. “Don’t fuss.”

He checked her over carefully, and jabbed her with a painkiller before she could react.

“My ass you’re fine,” he retorted, seeing how pained she was when she moved. “One stinking bounty hunter?”

“Got him, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” he said, more gently. “You did. Come on, let’s get you somewhere I can see you properly. Like the ship.”

He enlisted a couple of Muuns to help her back (while he pinned her to the stretcher mostly by means of a scowl), and winced as he heard Skywalker’s voice coming from down the hall, arguing with Senator Amidala. They hadn’t even got as far as the ship before they started up this time.

“Yeah, knew he wouldn’t be happy about that,” Ahsoka said quietly, for his ears only.

Kix nodded as he caught the gist. Former senator Clovis was definitely a persona non grata around Skywalker; especially when he was sniffing around their Senator. He couldn’t help but think that maybe Skywalker might have a point this time, though – she had nearly died last time, and there was so much more at stake now.

Once they were back at the ship and the Muuns departed elegantly but hastily, and he and Ahsoka were alone, Kix peeled the bacta patch from her left montral to assess the damage.

“It’s mostly healed already,” she said defensively.

Kix eyeballed her. “You should have said something before you left Coruscant if you were in this much discomfort,” he told her sternly. “Especially if it’s affecting your reflexes.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m just growing, Kix: I’m not an invalid.”

“You are growing even faster than I did when I finally hit my growth spurt,” he said. “And that’s not even taking montrals, lekku, and _extra_ fucking _senses_ into account. There’s no way you would have been caught out if you’d been on your game.”

She sighed, looking away. “I… Everything _hurts_. Or itches. Or both.”

“Yep. Puberty sucks. It’ll blow over quickly enough but, in the meantime, we can do things about the pain you’re getting, and there will be things to soothe the itching too. I’m pretty sure I’ve got something…”

He went over to his tiny medical store; something he had crammed Togruta meds into as soon as he had heard what had happened here. It had been fairly obvious to him what had distracted Ahsoka enough that a bounty hunter had got the drop on her. He just wished he’d worked it out _before_ she had left for Scipio.

He pulled out the emollient General Ti had recommended for just this eventuality (it would both relieve the itching and included topical pain relief) and tossed it in Ahsoka’s direction. She caught it well enough, although a bit of that looked to be Force assisted. Growing limbs and all that. Kix had very unfond memories of the lack of co-ordination that puberty had wrought.

He had just finished helping her rub the soothing cream into the hard-to-reach bits of her central lek (which was awkward these days, now that she was old enough to react to stimulation of an erogenous zone, no matter how unintentional) when R2 stopped lurking by the door, flew into one of his controlled frenzies, and launched the ship into the air hurriedly.

“Artooie?” Ahsoka called after him. “What's wrong?”

The droid rattled off something in faster binary than Kix could keep up with. Not for the first time, he wished they had been able to swing having Jesse along for this mission, not least because he would have been whispering translations without hesitation. Including the curse words. Gleefully.

“Of course they are,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “Do you want a hand, or have you got this?”

R2 said something that sounded derisive even to Kix, and she laughed.

“That sounds about right. I hope he remembers he’s got precious cargo on board whatever scrapheap he's requisitioned this time.”

“From what he was yelling earlier, I don't think that's likely,” Kix commented dryly.

Ahsoka glanced at him, grinning. “No, me neither. But you know what he's like when he gets flying. Let's go get ready to catch him and Padmé.”

Kix sighed. He wished he was surprised by that sentence, he really did.

 

.oOo.

 

Kix grabbed the senator as soon as was reasonable, claiming he wanted to check her over to make sure she hadn't suffered during her imprisonment.

“I'm fine, Kix,” she said with a sigh. There was no mistaking the reason for that - Kix could practically smell the testosterone in the air. He was fairly certain that Ahsoka, with her more sensitive nose, actually _could_ , and that was one of the reasons he wanted the senator out of there: Skywalker was shooting too many possessive looks her way and was going to get himself noticed if he wasn't careful. Also, if Kix signed off on her heath and that of his kids, then it would calm Skywalker somewhat.

“Humour me, then,” he replied. “But the Senate will want to know.”

She sighed and pushed herself to get feet, straightening her dress carefully as she did so. “Of course. Lead the way.”

“Ahsoka will make sure they don't kill each other,” he joked, “and if I can tell Skywalker that everything's fine, he'll back off.”

She narrowed her eyes at that. “He doesn't trust me.”

Kix held up his hands at the ire in those four words. “He trust you just fine, but he knows you won't want to worry him either. Jesse tries that osik with me all the time. Kenobi’s the worst for it, drives Rex and Cody daft.”

He hoped she wouldn't notice that he had added Cody in a fraction of a second too late to be genuinely believable. From the sudden amused twinkle in her eyes, he didn't think he had gotten away with it, but at least he could trust Amidala to be discrete. It wasn't like Rex was the only one carrying on an illicit relationship with a Jedi, after all.

“I really am fine,” Amidala said, smiling a little now. “I've come out the other side of the morning sickness, thank goodness, so even that wasn't an issue during my _very brief_ incarnation.”

“I’m sure I won't find anything other than a slight nutritional deficiency, since they won't have realised you're eating for three and fed you accordingly.”

“Kix!”

He gave her the same look that brought Marshall Commanders and Generals to heel.

“I know you're not sick or injured, but you do have different requirements at the moment, and I doubt the Muuns will have taken that into account. You need more calories, more vitamins. You're building two entirely new humans and they have needs.”

She sighed, perching herself of the edge of the bed Kix had purloined for the tiny improvised medbay. “I know. I just… this wasn't supposed to happen yet. We were waiting until the war was over and you had sentient rights before starting our own family. I wanted to be able to tell everyone, and I can't even tell my closest friends because I'll lose my position. If anyone figures out Anakin is the father, he’ll lose his position too.”

Kix abandoned any idea of an examination in the immediate future and sat beside her.

“I can't pretend to understand the social things surrounding natural ik’aade,” he admitted, “but I understand wanting to do your duty no matter what. And I understand breaking the regs for love. Everyone just pretends they don't know about me and Jesse, just like we pretend we don't know about you and General Skywalker.”

“Or Rex and Obi-Wan?” she asked wickedly.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” he replied.

“Of course not. My apologies, Captain Kix; I meant no offence to either you or Captain Rex.”

“But family is pretty much the one thing I do understand,” he said, ignoring her clearly insincere apology to his equally insincere rebuttal, “even if mine is a bit kriffed up. And I understand wanting to make that family bigger. Jesse and I, we want to adopt some day, after the war is done. But we have to put it off, because we can't make our own.

“Seems to be this should be a gift, duty or not. And it means a lot to all us vod’e that you speak out for us. But I know you have friends could do that for us too, and that you would never abandon us unless you had to.”

“But that's just it, Kix - how can I abandon all of Anakin and Ahsoka's brothers, just because I got myself pregnant? How is that fair to you? And how could I walk away from the fight, knowing that you want your own children? How could I watch Fives flirt with Sabé and wonder what might happen if Fives were to be deemed legally sentient? I know that you all are, and so does Sabé, but the stigma could cause problems for them if they ever got together. How…”

“Wait, is Lady Sabé interested? Because she's playing that close to the chest.”

“She is, she always does, and you absolutely cannot tell Fives that!”

Kix snickered. “Oh, I won't. But I might put some money on how long it takes him to figure it out.

“Senator, if you decide you have to leave, every vod will understand the reason why as soon as they see those ik'aade. Don't decide just because of us.”

She scowled. “And that nobility is one of the reasons I would.”

“I have remedies for that,” he assured her. “Jesse. Fives. Boil. Fox.”

“Oh, well there you most definitely have a winner,” she said dryly. “Has he always been like that?”

“Our paths never crossed much on Kamino but, from what Cody and Wolffe say, yes. Can I get a look at you now, put everyone’s minds at rest?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod('e)_ \- brother(s)  
>  _osik_ \- shit  
>  _ik'aade_ \- babies


	14. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which more people are let in on the secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Senator Padmé Amidala and her bodyguard Ahoska Tano assisted Rush Clovis in obtaining documents from the Banking Clan provingthere is no money left to fund the war against the Separatist alliance.
> 
> Having thrice eluded attacks from bounty hunters, they were rescued from Scipio by Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker and his droid R2D2. Now they have returned to Coruscant to try and make sense of the data they stole.
> 
> * * *
> 
> This chapter contains references to sexual assault. It is in relation to something that not only happens on the show, but is _actually shown on screen_. Because that's an okay thing to show kids...

He and Ahsoka left Skywalker to be wrangled by Kenobi and General Koon, and went to check on Clovis, ensconced in the same room Fives had been in a few weeks beforehand. The guy looked like he’d had seven shades of shit knocked out of him, but he wasn’t in terrible shape, physically. Kix applied a bacta sleeve to his right hand, adjusted its rigidity to help set the metacarpal fractures he found, and began slapping bacta patches just about everywhere.

“What made you pick a fight with a guy with a metal hand?” Ahsoka asked from the doorway. Her back was turned to give the illusion of privacy.

Clovis shrugged, a movement that made him wince. “I… You wouldn’t understand.”

Kix could see her resist the urge to turn and look at him. “You were goading him,” she said. “Over his affection for Senator Amidala. They’ve been friends since they were children – of course they’re close.”

Clovis rolled his eyes and muttered “Jedi” under his breath.

Kix raised his eyebrows at his patient. “Whatever else Jedi are, they are still sentients. My general is still human, and my commander is still Togruta. They’re both capable of understanding jealousy; they’re just not supposed to act on it.”

“And Anakin didn’t act out of jealousy,” Ahsoka put in quickly, turning, her eyes flashing and her lekku flexing threateningly; “you were forcing yourself on Padmé. Those doors aren’t so soundproof I can’t hear through them. Didn’t anyone ever teach you that ‘no’ means ‘no’?”

Kix made himself step back rather than act on any impulses to cause physical harm to the man on the bed. That had been one of the first things they had ever been taught when they left Kamino, and it was something they would never have dreamed of anyway since the only thing aby vod owned was his body. Autonomy of one’s own self was sacrosanct.

“You,” he ground out, “are very lucky I am obliged to treat any patient to the best of my ability. And you should hope that my brothers do not find that out, because we are all very protective of Senator Amidala. Wolffe is likely to tear you apart, and Jesse and Sinker would let him.”

 

.oOo.

 

Kix thought that Clovis was extremely lucky that he wasn’t more seriously hurt, not only because Kix was fairly certain that Skywalker wouldn’t have needed to be goaded into attacking (if he knew, which it was probable he didn’t since Clovis was still drawing breath), but Kix was probably more than a little rough in applying the final bacta patches and the analgesic shot than would have been comfortable for his patient.

(Bad medic. Not in line with his oaths at all.)

That the analgesic also contained a sedative was a happy coincidence.

When he and Ahsoka returned to the living space, Anakin had been talked in from the balcony and was speaking softly with Senator Amidala and General Kenobi. Kix stepped up and grabbed his general’s chin so that he could see the bruising better.

“It’s not that bad,” Skywalker said without meeting Kix’s eyes.

Kix didn’t take that at face value, and palpitated gently.

“He’s fracture your cheek,” he pointed out. “And I’ll bet that’s not your only injury.”

The haunted look in Skywalker’s eyes pulled him up short. Kix let go, and wondered what he was missing.

“While your physical health is a concern,” Kenobi said gently, “I believe the true issue is this loss of control. You say you have no idea what gave you that final push?”

Skywalker shook his head. “None. I… I don’t even know why I’m so jealous of Clovis – it’s like I don’t trust Padmé, and I _do_. I…”

He trailed off, eyeing General Koon.

“Anakin, if I do not walk out of here with the fifty credits Jesse will owe me if you and the lovely senator are married, I will be surprised and disappointed.”

Anakin spluttered and turned his gaze on Jesse. “You opened a book on this?”

Jesse grinned unrepentantly. “I had to close it! But the general and Wolffe both have money in the pot.”

“For now,” Koon sounded concerned and solicitous, “let us focus on the issue at hand. There is a faint trace of something _other_ in your mind, but I cannot sense what it might have been.”

“Ani, I invited Obi-Wan here because we think we might know,” Amidala said, coming to sit at his side. “Obi-Wan, I assume you invited Master Koon because of his skills?”

Kenobi nodded. “Also because it was time to tell him anyway, and I am hoping for his help in unravelling Anakin’s problem.”

Skywalker scowled. “I don’t have a problem.”

Kenobi gave him one of those looks that Cody was also so good at. “You have just told us otherwise yourself, Anakin: you were not in full control when you attacked Clovis.”

“Please hear us out, Master,” Ahsoka said, turning her big blue eyes on him in a shameless act of begging. “There’s a lot of difficult things to tell you, and we don’t have a lot of time if we want to stay under the sensor grid.”

Kix knew he must look as confused as Wolffe and Sinker did at that statement – while they weren’t the most usual of visitors to Senator Amidala’s apartments, surely her security was good enough that they wouldn’t be noticed by anyone?

Jesse tapped his head, and suddenly it made sense: they were going to try and do something so that Skywalker wasn’t going to be influenced by the Chancellor’s manipulations.

Kenobi started from where they had first uncovered the conspiracy, from Tup and Fives and the chips, and the investigation they had been doing surreptitiously. When he started to explain how both he and Kix had reached the same conclusion, that it was someone very high up in the Republic administration who had arranged for their installation, Sinker’s expression changed, his eyes tightening with pain.

“Kenobi, stop,” Kix instructed immediately. “You can’t do that to another vod. It’s bad enough I triggered it myself.”

“Of course. My apologies, Sinker, Wolffe: I do wish I had been able to gain your consent earlier for that demonstration. You might be more comfortable with Captain Panaka for the time being: this conversation will only get more difficult for you. Kix discovered that eventually the chip will trigger a blackout if it is pushed far enough.”

Wolffe looked incredibly confused (which did, on him, admittedly just look more hacked off than usual). “With all due respect, general, what are you talking about?”

That statement drew the attention of everyone who was aware of its significance, and it didn’t take Kix long to work out what it was that was different about Wolffe, the thing protecting him from the chip’s interference.

“Right-sided cranial injuries,” he said softly. “The chip’s already dead; it must have just stopped rather than failing catastrophically like Tup’s.

“Sirs, what you are seeing in Sinker is exactly what happened to me and Jesse when we started to talk about this; with the chip installed, we literally couldn’t even think about who was responsible, or why. It caused severe headaches and blackouts, stopping us from ever getting there ourselves. Sinker, vod, you should do what General Kenobi suggests.”

General Koon nodded gravely. “I have little doubt that we shall remedy that necessity shortly, ner ad – after all, Master Kenobi does not flinch at shadows – but I should hear the evidence that has been gathered before making a final decision.”

Sinker looked reluctant, but obeyed his general. Sabé met him at the door and pointed him in a direction that he might at least be useful in.

“Anakin, I have to say that I was surprised by your reaction to all of this,” Padmé said, her voice soft and non-accusational. “I would have thought that whether they function as intended or not, the knowledge that your men have been chipped like slaves would get more of a reaction from you.”

He looked startled, then frowned. “I… I don’t… Why am I not mad about that? I _should_ be mad about that, and the other one too – the ID chip! No citizen has one implanted like they do. But… I’m not?”

“We may be able to answer that as well,” Kenobi said. “You’re the key to the puzzle, really: you’re the last piece that makes it all fit together.

“Dooku told me before the war even started that his master, Darth Sidious, was in the Senate. As you know, I dismissed the idea out of hand, but I am regretting that now because it appears to be true.”

“The Separatists have too much intelligence on our troop movements for them not to have a mole high up in the intelligence services,” Amidala said. “They know things that only the Jedi High Council and the Security Council should know, and I don’t think anyone believes the leak is on the Jedi side. This is something that has not been investigated, and it should have been.”

“The only way it makes sense is if Sidious is the mole, and the war has been planned from the start: Dooku on one side, and Sidious on the other, co-ordinating everything,” Kenobi picked up. “Sabé made the point that they are likely trying to destabilise the galaxy so that they can somehow replace both the Republic and the CIS, putting themselves in charge and bring some semblance of peace.”

“The general population would be quite glad of that at this point,” Koon observed. “They are tired of the war.”

“I don’t understand what this has to do with me, or with Tup and Fives,” Skywalker growled impatiently.

“There’s only one person with enough power to make it work,” Kix said, trying to keep his voice as soft as everyone else.

“Indeed,” Koon said slowly. “But how does that fit…? Oh, I see. That is indeed disturbing, and I believe you have a suggestion in your mind that is preventing you from making the connection, my young friend.

“Anakin, they are referring to Chancellor Palpatine. He alone has enough ties to both the army and the senate to be co-ordinating with Dooku, and he has certainly spent enough time with you over the years to be able to place suggestions and compulsions in your mind.” He sighed. “I said he should have never been allowed such close contact with such a young padawan, but the rest of the council overruled me.”

“This… this is ridiculous – he’s my friend.” Skywalker sounded more confused than angry. “He… He’s not Force sensitive; I think I would have noticed that.”

“No-one did,” Ahsoka said, sounding a little strained. “I was in that meeting today, and watched that slippery little snake get his hooks into you, and I barely sensed a thing. And I was looking. Hard. He put Padmé on the investigation with Clovis knowing how you would feel about it. He set everything in motion for that fight.”

“I’m not entirely sure that Dooku is aware of how much Palpatine has invested in you,” Kenobi said. “I’m fairly sure he would have tried a lot harder to kill you if he had worked out that Palpatine wants you as his apprentice, not Dooku.

“We always said you were too powerful for your own good, but I don’t think anyone ever anticipated this. He’s destabilising you to try and unbalance you, get you to fall. I’m fairly certain that he wants you to believe that he is the only person you can trust.”

“But… He always listens to me, always understands.”

“I’m sure he does, Anakin,” Kenobi said, taking Skywalker’s hands in his. “I’m also fairly certain he has told you at some point that I would _not_ understand about certain things, and you know that isn’t true. If Satine had asked, I would have left the Order in a heartbeat to marry her. I will always carry that hurt with me, and the question of what could have been.

“I also know what it is like to act out of anger and fear. I was a troubled initiate, and I carry some of that with me to this day. Had any member of the Council been there the moment I felled Maul, they would never have considered that to be my Trial: they would have thrown me out of the Order without hesitation.”

“No Jedi is perfect, Anakin,” Koon said. “We all have our trials, and we confide in our masters and our friends in order to overcome them. In time, I hope you will be able to rebuild whatever trust you once had in Obi-Wan and the Order as a whole. For now, though, we need to work quickly on the compulsions in your mind.”

“Wait,” Wolffe interjected. “I didn’t follow all the jetiise stuff except for the bit about the karking Chancellor, but what’s this thing with the chips? Where do they fit in?”

“Sirs, you work, we’ll tell him,” Jesse said, giving the Jedi a tight smile.

 

.oOo.

 

Wolffe put his fist through the nearest wall, snarling obscenities when Jesse mentioned Order Sixty-Six. Senator Amidala didn’t even blink, let alone admonish him for it.

 

.oOo.

 

Skywalker did exactly the same thing when he came around from whatever it was the Jedi had done to him. Amidala merely sighed and asked Ahsoka to contact maintenance in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod_ \- brother, sibling  
>  _ner ad_ \- my son, my child


	15. Rigging

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which more plans are hatched

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Senator Padmé Amidala and Rush Clovis stole data from the Banking Clan, and are on the verve of uncovering a conspiracy that will shake the failing bank to its core.
> 
> Before they can piece together the puzzle, they are interrupted by Jedi knight, and Senator Amidala's secret husband, Anakin Skywalker. Overcome with jealousy over the compromising position he finds them in, Anakin and Clovis fight.
> 
> Anakin's former padawan, Ahsoka Tano, now Padmé's personal bodyguard, contacted Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Recognising that this is a symptom of a larger problem, Master Kenobi brought his friend and fellow council member Master Plo Koon with him, along with clone medic Kix and clone escorts.
> 
> * * *
> 
> I told myself I wasn't going to do this, but I've had a couple of awesome comments this morning and I'm feeling like I should...

“Say you’re right,” Skywalker said, rubbing at his temples. “Say this was all set up by Palpatine, what was the ultimate goal here? What’s really going on with the Banking Clan?”

“Gain direct control of the cash-flow,” Wolffe said immediately. “Presumably there’s some evidence that points the finger at shady deals between the bank and the Seppies, so the Senate can take over and no-one will object.”

“He can’t, surely,” Kenobi said, looking up from the mug of tea he was now cradling between his hands. Sabé had thoughtfully provided refreshments – tea for Kenobi and Amidala, and enough caff to float the Redeemer. Sinker had even produced one of Koon’s specialised, atmosphere-locked drinks so that he could join them.

“That would be absurd. The Banking Clan _must_ remain neutral.”

“Actually, it kind of makes sense,” Jesse interjected before anyone else could speak. “If you want to control the galaxy, you need to control the money _and_ the military. If they don’t sort this out now, it would be more difficult to get control once they’ve overturned whichever government they’re getting rid of.”

“The Separatists,” Amidala said. “Not only would it make sense for Palpatine – Sidious – to be in control of the power they intend to remain, but Wolffe is right; we _have_ found evidence pointing to something wrong. The Separatists haven’t been paying interest on their loans from the Banking Clan – they’re getting their money for nothing, and there is also money being siphoned off into… well, we haven’t managed to trace that from the records we have, but I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if they turn out to be Separatist-controlled accounts.”

“But what was the point of the fight?” Ahsoka asked. “I know he wants Skyguy all crazy, but he could have just left well enough alone and let jealousy work its way in. He specifically goaded you so that there would be an actual fight.”

“Senator, what would you have done if Ahsoka hadn’t called us?” Kix asked. “If she hadn’t called _me_?”

Amidala thought for a moment, staring into the depths of her cup. “I… I would have sent for a med droid. There are some in the building should any of us ever need one. But I don’t see how that helps us: I am much more grateful that you are here, and that things are more out in the open now, but a med droid isn’t going to help us get the information about the mystery accounts.”

“Maybe it could,” Jesse said shrewdly. “I mean, droids can be tampered with. Who’s to say that the droids haven’t been re-programmed to have that information?”

Amidala glared at him. “I know that Clovis is not the most popular person with anyone here, but he isn’t stupid. He would question the validity of any data coming from a source like that. He would never present it to the Senate.”

“Let us return to this particular step later,” Koon suggested. “Were you and Clovis to present hard evidence of underhanded dealings between the Banking Clan and the CIS, what would happen next?”

“The Senate would push for the heads of the Banking Clan to be stripped of their leadership,” Kenobi said. “And the Muuns would support that wholeheartedly – as a whole, they despise dishonesty. It’s why they gained control of the banks in the first place. They would have to install someone neutral as the head – someone supported by the Clan and both senates.”

“Clovis.”

Skywalker started to react to that – everyone saw his face contort before he sagged against the sofa. “Sorry. It’s hard, even knowing that everything in my head has been twisted. But the man’s a traitor to the Republic – there’s no way the Senate would endorse him.”

“They would if he brings this to light,” Amidala said, standing by her prediction. “By doing that, he would prove himself trustworthy. The Separatist Senate is nothing but Dooku these days, so there would be no problems there: he’ll do whatever Sidious tells him. And Clovis was raised by a Muun family – he’s one of them as far as they are concerned. That’s all three bases covered. But having him in power doesn’t benefit the Sith.”

“Not unless they have control of him,” Wolffe suggested darkly.

“Well, there’s a disturbing thought,” Ahsoka said. “The question now is: do we let things get back on schedule, or do we keep things as they are and stress out our resident Sith lord even more than we already have?”

“I vote for stressing,” Skywalker said: “he’s more likely to make a mistake we can take advantage of.”

“That’s true, and ordinarily I would agree with you,” Kenobi responded, “but in this instance I think we need to play things safe. Should we push too many of Sidious’ buttons, he is likely to issue Contingency Order Sixty-Six ahead of whatever schedule he is keeping. We need to find a way to protect the men en masse before we do too much rattling of our gilded cage. And I suspect that may be something you can assist us with, Anakin.”

 

.oOo.

 

The decision was fairly unanimous after that: Clovis would be brought into part of the conspiracy – this specific part – and asked if he would play his part in trying to uncover a mole in the Republic Senate. Amidala was confident he would agree, since he wanted his people to be free to act impartially and, more importantly, kept free from the war raging in the rest of the galaxy.

General Koon – a fairly neutral third party – offered to return in the morning to help with Clovis, and was gratefully accepted. As they left 500 Republica, however, he strong-armed Skywalker into allowing him to borrow Kix so that he could work with An’uram, the 104th’s medic in identifying and removing the chips. Kix tried to protest that the healers they had been working with at the temple knew more than he did, but he lost that argument somewhat spectacularly.

And Wolffe was right – traipsing more and more troopers through the Temple would get mightily suspicious quickly, and they didn’t want that. Rotating them through routine medical checks while they were between missions, however, was something to be expected.

Also, it would be good to get his hand in – neither the 501st nor the 212th would be grounded for much longer given that the restrictions had been lifted following Fives’ apparent escape into hyperspace in a malfunctioning shuttle, and it would be good to be able to carry out removing the thrice-damned things from his brothers while they were away.

They all agreed to start in the morning, which would give Kix some time to round up Ryll and get him involved in the chip operations too – Ryll was going to be looking after the whole of the 212th when they shipped out, and it was best if he knew what to do as well.

(Kix had been very grateful to learn that Ryll still had batchmates in the 212th, and that there were a lot of vod’e there who knew their favourite little medic well enough to spot the warning signs of his tremors early enough to get him to stop. He would be looked after there. And probably not get himself shot by a fucking sniper, or blown up, or (honest to the kriffing Force, fucking 212th) eaten by a carnivorous plant.)

 

.oOo.

 

Next morning found Ryll and the Zeltron healer, Tayla, joining them in the infirmary of the barracks the 104th were using (right next door to the 212th/501st ones). Bringing the healer was a good idea – she knew the surgery well by now, and ensured that the three clone medics knew the precise technique when it came to their turns. Unsurprisingly, it was the surviving members of the Wolfpack who submitted to the procedure first. Sinker was used as the example, since he already knew of the conspiracy and it seemed unfair to leave him any longer than necessary with that ability to self-trigger the chip.

Kix was given the honour of removing Wolffe’s non-functional chip next. They all agreed that it wasn’t worth the risk leaving it in there, just in case it wasn’t as non-functional as they thought; and Tayla wanted it for her and Awaraven to study. It might hold the key to disabling the lot. Kix doubted it, personally, but anything was worth a shot.

An’uram took Boost, and was as no-nonsense about the removal as he was with anything else.

Ryll was last, removing Comet’s chip. As always, he was as steady as a rock during the surgery, and looked rightfully pleased with himself as he handed over the mass of tissue to be preserved for study.

Before they could make any decisions as to how they were going to go about removing the chips from the rest of the three battalions, the 212th got their marching orders. Ryll gathered up his helmet and asked them to let him know whenever the decision was made.

(It wasn’t going to be made without him; they all knew that. But it was nice that he asked.)

Ahsoka pinged a message through to Kix’s comm a few minutes after Ryll’s departure saying that the bait had been taken. So it _had_ been something to do with the med droid, then? That was the only thing that could have happened this morning, surely? Amidala had summoned the med droid to check on ‘her’ patching up of Clovis last night, make sure that nothing had been missed. The hope had been that things would progress as they were supposed to from there, and it looked like they had been right.


	16. Resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things happen on Scipio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> Senator Padmé Amidala and Rush Clovis stole data from the Banking Clan, and are on the verve of uncovering a conspiracy that will shake the failing bank to its core.
> 
> With help, they piece together that the Sith are attempting to take over the banks in an effort to gain total dominance in the galaxy.
> 
> Now they need to gather evidence that will expose Chancellor Palpatine as a traitor before he can issue the deadly Order Sixty-Six.

The med droid had provided Clovis with a comm unit, Ahsoka revealed over drinks, which had put him into direct contact with Dooku. The files that solidified the evidence against the heads of the Banking Clan had come directly from him.

Clovis submitted them to the Senate, and promptly got himself the sanctions he needed in order to become the new head of the Banking Clan.

“Which means I get a temporary change in employment,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve got a skillset that lends itself to being a freelance bodyguard, and Clovis has had bounty hunters after him for days now. We all know it was because they wanted to get him here with his evidence, but they don’t know that. Now he’s the head of the Banking Clan, he can play the ‘important person’ card and claim a bodyguard that he trusts. And I’ve technically got no ties to the GAR, the Jedi, or the Senate.”

“Except that you keep hanging around with vod’e, jetiise, and senators,” Jesse pointed out, snickering.

“Except all that, yeah. I’m off to Scipio tomorrow, with the 104th lurking nearby as backup.” She knocked back a mouthful of her drink before adding: “I’m pretty sure that Palpatine would notice Anakin’s absence at the moment, otherwise I’d love to have you along instead. The creepy little fuck couldn’t resist turning the screws a little tighter as soon as the session was over, asking him to keep watch on Clovis because neither of them trust him. At least Skyguy knows about all the messing now.”

She didn’t sound altogether confident on that count, and Kix had to agree with her. After all, Skywalker had said it himself: knowing that there were things wrong in his head and being able to do something about it were two completely different things. The second took a lot of hard work, and generally required outside assistance.

Not something Skywalker would be lacking, but he had to accept it first…

“We know too,” Rex assured her. “We’ll keep an eye on him.”

“And,” Jesse added darkly, “if things go wrong, we’ve got experience of mutinying against crazy Jedi.”

Kix smacked him around the back of the head. Rex looked relieved, probably because his gut response was more likely to be along the lines of punching Jesse in the face.

Umbara wasn’t not talked about, because that way lay madness. But they had lost far too much for anyone to joke about it. Even Jesse.

Not when Rex or their jetiise were around anyway: they all blamed themselves. Skywalker and Ahsoka blamed themselves because they weren’t there and they had trusted Krell to look after their men; Kenobi because he felt he should have noticed that something was wrong with the 501st (despite being busy trying to direct his own forces in a communications blackout); Rex blamed himself most of all because he _knew_ something was wrong but didn’t see the full picture until it was too late. And because Dogma had taken the shot.

Ahsoka surprised them all by chuckling, although it was very much gallows humour. “I guess you do. Be nicer with him, though? He’s still my ori’vod, and he’s not being a di’kut on purpose.”

 

.oOo.

 

As it turned out, Ahsoka was wrong on one count. While they clearly couldn’t overtly take a whole battalion to Scipio, Senator Amidala was permitted an escort. And, while Palpatine insisted that she take at least one member of the Senate Guard with her, she was allowed three members from the 501st – clones she was familiar with – to accompany her.

Skywalker immediately assigned Rex, Jesse, and Kix. And, somehow…

“CT-7560 reporting for duty, ma’am.”

Amidala’s eyes flickered from the newcomer and his perfect salute to Rex. Some time ago, she had asked about fraternal relationships between clones, and they had explained the concept of birth-squads to her. And it looked like she had not only remembered that, but Rex’s ID number too, because she had clearly noticed the similarity and realised that this trooper would be known to Rex.

Kix knew there was a reason they all liked her so much.

“What’s your name, trooper?” she asked kindly. “And please feel free to remove your bucket.”

He was grinning as the helmet came off. “Thank you, ma’am. My name is Lingo and, if I may, it’s nice to see you looking well again. I was worried for a while.”

She gasped. “You’re the one! Kix mentioned that you contacted him.” She shook her head. “You’re the one to blame for the fact I’ve had him hovering over me for weeks.”

Lingo looked completely unrepentant. “I’d much rather have you in good health, ma’am, and there are much worse prices to pay for that than Kix’s bedside manner.”

Kix made a mental note that next time he ever had the opportunity to be responsible for Lingo’s care, he would _really_ experience what Kix could offer in terms of bedside manners.

Amidala merely raised her eyebrows. “Indeed? Kix, it appears your vod’e do not bring out the best in you. Perhaps you need some better patients?”

He kind of wanted to kiss her for that, not only because she was defending him, but because it completely broke any ice with Lingo and brought him firmly into the fold of their little expedition.

“Perhaps I do,” he settled on instead, keeping his expression neutral, thoughtful. “Oh, to have patients who follow my advice instead of avoiding me, or trying to sneak out before they’re fit, or interpreting ‘light duties’ and ‘light exercise’ creatively.”

Jesse rolled his eyes. “Oh, to have a medic who looks after himself as well as his patients and doesn’t need sitting on so that he rests. Come on, let’s get going.”

Lingo was left blinking at that as he stowed his kit and they all took their seats for take-off. “I can’t decide,” he said softly to Rex, “whether the innuendo was intentional or not.”

Rex shook his head. “Normally with Jesse it would be, but on this occasion, no.”

Jesse, because of course he overheard, turned and grinned from the pilot’s seat. “Don’t be so sure, Rex – sometime the whim takes us that way.”

Kix groaned. “I’m so sorry, Senator. I swear he’s not all this crass all the time – he _does_ know how to behave.”

She smiled. “I would honestly be more concerned if Jesse _was_ behaving. At least by being himself, I know that Lingo is  aliit to you and will probably be a good fit for this mission.”

Lingo inclined his head by way of acknowledgement. “Thank you, ma’am. And it’s nice to be with vod’e who are a little less tightly wound than the Senate Guard for a change. I swear, being on Coruscant permanently does funny things to some brothers.”

Amidala, Force bless her, didn’t react in any way other than a slight frown. “Really?”

Lingo’s mouth did a funny little twitch as he nodded. “The best thing I can come up with is that it’s because we were raised for combat and we don’t really see any of that here. But…” He hesitated, looked at his hands as if they could give him the answers (once upon a time they would have held a datapad that probably could have, if not to this particular question). “I don’t know, ma’am. That’s how I rationalise it to myself, but something tells me that’s not right.”

“That’s troubling – I certainly wouldn’t want to think that by ensuring our safety, your brothers are being caused mental anguish. Can you tell me more?”

 

.oOo.

 

As Republic soldiers, none of them were allowed into the banking facility, but they were met on the landing pad by Clovis and Ahsoka, so at least there was one reliable set of eyes on their senator. Rex occupied them by making sure the arsenal they had packed into the shuttle was accessible and functional, and had them all on the alert for anything that might be even a whiff of Seppie activity.

The arrival of Senator Lawise caused a little consternation, but Senator Amidala had warned them to expect him. Just as she was representing the interests and approval of the Republic senate, Lawise would be there for the Confederacy.

The broadcast that interest on the Republic’s loans would be increased was unexpected, but not necessarily surprising – Rex quickly reasoned that this would be Clovis playing along with Dooku, each trying to reel in his catch. Kix felt that was a horribly public thing to announce for something that should have been a clandestine operation.

It was Lingo who spotted it on the sensors first:

“Here come our uninvited guests.”

Jesse barely had time to key the coded comm broadcasts to Amidala, Tano, and the 104th before the droids were on them, coming in hot. Rex grabbed Lingo and pulled him into cover behind Lawise’s ship while Kix went the opposite direction, behind a set of cargo containers. He prayed they didn’t contain fuel, otherwise he could be toast. Literally.

Jesse, on the other hand, got the ship into the air to meet them head on.

The landing pad was becoming littered with droid parts as the three of them took out the first few waves with a combination of sheer firepower and droid poppers. It left Kix glad they had planned for this, because anyone else probably would have been caught unawares.

“Hey, Lingo,” Jesse said cheerfully as he chased down an airborne vulture droid, “you still missing active combat?”

“I didn’t miss it!” Lingo protested, without losing his sight on the droid he promptly took out. “I was never cut out for all this crap!” He rolled a droid popper and disabled six more. “This is for insane people like you!”

“Looks to me like you’re doing just fine, vod,” Rex said, chuckling as he made headshot after headshot at a rate that their progenitor would have been proud of. “We’ll make an ARC of you yet.”

“But I _like_ my job,” Lingo wailed as he continued shooting droids at a respectable rate. “I get to learn things, and I’m not _completely insane_.”

“Wish we’d introduced you to Echo,” Jesse commented, casually shooting down a bomber. “How many languages did he speak again?”

“Nine, I think,” Kix said. “And he was working on another two or three.”

The platform shook as something in flames collided with it, close by, and Rex cursed fluently for a few seconds. 

“Lingo?” There was no point in asking Rex himself – he wouldn’t tell the truth.

“Right shoulder,” Lingo reported crisply. “Maybe a dislocation? He’s up and shooting tinnies with extreme prejudice, so he’ll probably be fine.”

Kix flicked a popper at a pair of Rollies before responding to that. “Remind me to tell you about the day he tried that with a sucking chest wound.”

“Which completely proves my point about ARCs being insane.”

“Yeah, but they make life more interesting,” a new voice cut in. Kix’s HUD identified it as CT-63-8521 of the 104th. “Speaking of interesting, care to share your fight?”

“Eris, I will blow you if you get some of these droids off my shebs,” Jesse promised unreservedly.

“Is that an open invitation to any pilot offering assistance?”

Kix was lucky he had battle instinct working in his favour, because otherwise that voice could have frozen him long enough for a droid to get an easy shot at him.

“Sir, as long as Kix agrees with me playing away from home, I am willing to try absolutely anything. I’ve heard dorin gas is pretty fun to play in.”

“ _TIME AND A PLACE, JESSE!_ ” Rex roared, making Kix’s comm squeal in protest before dimming its audio output.

“Come on, Rex, the general offered.”

“I know I said I’d let you try things out,” Kix said, “but I have to draw the line at autoerotic asphyxiation. But I wouldn’t say no to some assistance: these droids are relentless.”

A wing of grey-accented fighters, led by a blue-and-white striped Aethersprite, flew over his head shooting down enemy craft left, right and centre. Somewhat tragically, it was the Aethersprite that took on the two that were tailing Jesse’s craft.

 

.oOo.

 

Things settled pretty soon after that. The 104th didn’t put any men on the ground until the Scipian authorities gave them permission, but once that was granted they swept the surrounding areas for any surviving droids.

Kix confirmed Lingo’s initial diagnosis of a dislocated right shoulder for Rex, along with some significant bruising and reddening of the skin where his armour hadn’t quite stood up to the massive impact or the heat of the flames. He popped the shoulder back in, slathered bacta over the minor burns, and tied it into a sling. (Rex glared, exasperated. Kix glared back. Kix won.) The armour wasn’t going back on, though – Rex needed a lot of new panels, and his bucket was significantly worse for wear.

Wolffe joined them and General Koon, and they were finally permitted to enter the bank. Apparently the Muuns wanted to take statements.

There wasn’t an awful lot to say: they had picked up the approach of the Seppies on their scanners only a scant few seconds before they had arrived, reported it to Senator Amidala, and the four of them had done their best to hold off the invading fleet.

Wolffe reported that Count Dooku’s flagship had turned tail once the battle was going badly. He sincerely looked like he had wanted to pursue and rip it to shreds.

The Muuns thanked them for their timely assistance, and for respecting their neutrality by not landing Republic forces without their consent.

Senator Lawise then informed them that the invasion had not been sanctioned by the Confederacy senate, and that Dooku was acting on no-one’s authority but his own. The Separatist Alliance respected the neutrality of the banks, and hoped that this incident by a rogue would not be held against them as a whole.

“As a gesture of our good faith,” he continued, his yellow eyes flickering around the assembled audience, “we will honour the promise Dooku made, and begin to repay the interest on our loans. It does not seem fair that we are being held to different terms than the Republic.”

Clovis inclined his head. “Thank you, Senator Lawise. I know you are a man of your word, and I would be very glad to return both loans to their original, fair terms.

“Senator Amidala, does that meet with your approval?”

She smiled graciously. “It does. Thank you, Director Clovis.”

 

.oOo.

 

Ahsoka was in the middle of explaining how Lawise had known about Dooku’s discussion with Clovis, and that Clovis had been open with the Muuns about the fact they were trying to flush out a conspiracy, when the news flashed through, announced by Chancellor Palpatine himself:

“The traitor ARC-5555, has been killed on Talchios IV.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod('e)_ \- brother(s)  
>  _jetii(se)_ \- Jedi (singular  & plural)  
>  _ori'vod_ \- big sister/sibling  
>  _di'kut_ \- idiot  
>  _aliit_ \- family  
>  _shebs_ \- ass


	17. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the 501st are left reeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm feeling bad about the cliffhanger...
> 
> Previously:
> 
> Having uncovered a conspiracy at the heart of the Clone army, ARC trooper Fives was secreted undercover in the 212th Attack Battalion.

The news spread quickly, as it always did in the army when it wasn't part of operational security – the traitor, ARC-5555 was dead. Kix felt sick – all that hard work, everything Fives had been through just to survive, and he had managed to get himself killed on a stupid campaign by some lucky droid.

None of them wanted to believe it, but no-one had heard anything different, and this wasn’t something they had planned for. The plan had been for the 212th to ‘find’ the debris of Fives’ shuttle in a week’s time (war allowing), and neither Rex nor Wolffe had heard anything from Cody about a change. There was nothing except this one piece of news, and no-one dared to contact Cody to see if it was true. Kix wasn’t sure whether that was fear that such a communiqué might be intercepted and put them at risk of exposure, or whether they were afraid it was actually true.

Either way, they wouldn’t have been able to tell the remaining members of the 501st, because they simply didn’t know what was truly going on. Whether or not they believed that Fives was a traitor (and many of them didn’t), they had no way of knowing that he had been hiding in plain sight within the ranks of the 212th.

The whole of the 501st was off-balance: absolutely not the best time to be diverted to Saleucami (again). Not only was it their first true battle since Ringo Vinda and the loss of both Tup and Fives, but Rex couldn’t command because of the shoulder injury he had picked up on Scipio. Subsequently, they picked up more injuries than Kix would consider normal for a run-of-the-mill battle; not serious, life-threatening injuries, but stupid things caused by inattentiveness.

He had to admit that even he was nursing a spectacularly wrenched knee, not that he had any time to do much about it. And he definitely wasn’t going to tell Jesse, because he was already taking it hard. This was his first battle in command of the legion and the casualty figures were shocking.

Rex kept telling him it wasn’t his fault. Kix didn’t think it was sinking in.

At least it wasn’t raining? While it would have fit the general mood, rain would have just demoralised them even more (not least because rain reminded them all of Kamino). The arid climate was at least working for them in that respect.

Fives had become a legend within his own lifetime; as much of a hero to the vod’e as Kenobi and Skywalker were to the Republic in general. The 501st had always been proud to call him their own. Now… morale was crap; even worse than it had been in the immediate aftermath of Ringo Vinda. At least after the staged escape from Coruscant, the youngsters and those out of the loop had taken heart that Fives was still out there somewhere, still alive despite all the odds.

The 212th came to relieve them, to mop up the few pockets of droids remaining and to provide medical aid. That, Kix was grateful for – he hadn’t slept in… he actually couldn’t remember how long, and Jesse was too busy to nag at him about it, dashing about in his new pauldron and kama (they’d had the shiny knocked off during the long battle), doing the job that Fives should be doing alongside him. Rex was helping out now, but Jesse was still stressing himself out.

Kix was in the ruined building they had pressed into service as a medical storage, an awning pegged out to keep the blazing sun off the precious supplies, when Ryll suddenly appeared at his side. He was wearing gold bordered with blue, rather than the other way around, as his colours used to be.

“Well, at least they didn’t manage to get you killed too,” Kix grumbled, too tired to be properly glad to see his apprentice safe and well.

He was almost too tired to notice the slight smirk that played about Ryll’s mouth, one that grew as Ryll waved over one of the men he had brought with him.

Kix turned slowly, blinked at the familiar artwork that crossed through the gap in the stones denoting what had once been a doorway. The twin stripes adorned a shiny new bucket that was halfway off.

He put his fist in Fives’ face before he even had the chance to open his mouth and say something smart and irritating.

“Told you,” Ryll said, sounding eminently unconcerned.

Fives, lying on the floor and nursing his jaw, nodded. “True enough, vod’ika. Can I get up now and explain that it was spur of the moment?”

Kix stared, speechless. Fives looked like he’d been through hell; he had a half-healed burn that scored unevenly across his temple and into his hairline, barely missing his eye, and only showing a tiny patch of rough skin on his ear. The shine, experienced eyes told him, was bacta gel slathered over it rather than scar tissue.

“Kriff me, Fives,” Rex said, striding in and taking in the scene without blinking, “I’m pretty sure Kix’s way would have been less painful.”

Rex held out his good hand and pulled Fives to his feet before hugging him tightly. “Do not ever do that again,” he growled into the ear on Fives’ good side, “or I will hunt you down and make you wish you had never been decanted.”

Fives’ mouth twitched. “It would be kind of redundant now,” he pointed out, clearly doing his best to not smirk.

“Mir’sheb,” Rex said, cuffing him round the back of the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _vod'e_ \- brothers/clones  
>  _vod'ika_ \- little brother  
>  _mir'sheb_ \- smartass


	18. Interlude – Talchios IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see events from a different perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Previously:
> 
> ARC trooper Fives has been declared dead. But after a hard battle, the 501st find that one of the 212th's relief crew is an unexpected, if not unwelcome, guest.
> 
> * * *
> 
> I needed to switch things up a bit here, and show some stuff from other people's perspectives

Tally looked up, over Ryll’s shoulder, and met Nerra’s eyes levelly. His new sergeant looked grieved to have lost so many vod’e this day – to be losing another. Tally knew he would be marching ahead soon enough, and even Ryll couldn’t change that, not with how badly injured Tally was.

Didn’t stop him fussing though.

“Ryll,” he said, making the decision that it was time to call his sergeant out on his bantha crap. Time was of the essence and they were surrounded by nothing but dead men and pieces of clanker. “I got long enough to make a tattoo look okay?”

That brought them both up short.

“What? Why…?”

Tally looked back to Nerra, and could feel his eyes involuntarily roll a little as he did so. That wasn’t a good sign.

“Seems to me our sergeant needs to fake his death sooner rather than later. A dead brother with the right tattoo’s going to be fairly convincing. And I’ve not got any identifying scars, tats, or mutations.”

When neither of them said anything, Tally glared.

“You honestly thought none of us would realise, Fives?”

Nerra swallowed. Hard. He knelt down beside Ryll, bringing his eyes down to Tally’s level.

“I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger,” he admitted as Ryll went back to work, assessing the wound in Tally’s abdomen. “If you knew for sure, you’d have been obliged to tell someone.”

Tally gave him a weak smile. “So it’s big, whatever you’re mixed up in. We’d pretty much figured that out, because you’re clearly not deranged. Now, get this tat done sooner rather than later, yeah?”

Ryll glanced up from his work to Nerra – Fives – and sighed. “I’ll go get Alyx: xe’s good with ink, and xe’ll need to do whatever Jesse did with your ID chip. He showed xir just in case.”

They watched him go, then Fives turned back to him, his eyes suspiciously damp.

“Tally, I…”

“Just doing what needs to be done to keep my superior safe,” Tally said, cutting him off. “And it’s not like I need my body when I’m marching ahead. Don’t make a big thing of it.”

 

.oOo.

 

“Say that again?”

Cody couldn’t have heard that right, surely?”

“I… I think we’ve found ARC Trooper Fives, sir,” Crys reported again. “He’s with Nerra’s squad – looks like they were ambushed.”

Cody closed his eyes for a moment, thankful for his bucket, because no-one else would see his otherwise internalised panic.

“Hold your position; we’ll be right there.”

He was _not_ looking forward to explaining this to Kenobi, or to the inevitable cover-up operation. He should have known that hiding Fives among the 212 th would come back to bite him in the ass.

 

.oOo.

 

When they arrived on the scene, they could clearly see evidence of the ambush Crys had mentioned. Most of the men were dead, and Ryll was tending to Ne… to Nerra? who seemed to have suffered a head wound.

“He’s over here, sir,” Crys said, jogging over to join them. “He got hit pretty bad.”

Cody risked glancing over at Kenobi, who seemed to be as confused as him as Crys led them to a downed man propped against a wall. The abdominal plates of his armour showed significant damage, probably from a heavy-duty weapon. Otherwise, he looked peaceful in death. His bucket had been removed, and the tattoo showed darkly on his forehead.

“His armour’s pretty shiny,” Crys commented. “The paint’s still fresh: he must have been hoping to blend in.”

Yes, the breast plate and bucket were decidedly shiny and new, with just the small ‘V’ shape at the throat typical of the 212th, and a single central stripe over the crest of the helmet that was equally anonymous in the absence of any other markings. The rest of the brother’s armour Cody deliberately chose not to look at, instead focussing on that damning tattoo.

“I’ve checked out his ID chip,” Crys said efficiently. “It shows some signs of an attempt to tamper with it, but it’s definitely his number.”

That clinched it for Cody, because he knew that they had tested Fives’ ID chip to within an inch of its life, and it had never so much as cracked around its re-encoding. The chip, the bits of armour that had clearly seen battle before because the paint was scuffed, the too-dark tattoo – this wasn’t Fives at all. He strongly suppressed a sigh of relief, and wondered who this poor, anonymous brother had been. One of Nerra’s men, surely, but which one?

Kenobi knelt at ‘Fives’’ side and inspected the body for himself. “I wonder what happened here? Why he returned.”

Cody glanced at Crys, who shrugged that little shrug, the one that meant ‘you’re the commander, you tell him’. Cody hated that shrug when it came from his men.

“My guess, sir?” he volunteered. “We’re not meant to be alone. Even ARC Troopers serve with other vod’e. Fives is – was – no different. I’d guess he just didn’t want to be alone any more, and we were probably the first battalion he ran across. He painted his armour to match and tried to slot himself in. It looks like bad luck that he picked the wrong unit.”

Kenobi signed. “That’s too bad – I would have liked to have gotten to the bottom of what happened on Kamino, and Ringo Vinda, and even on Coruscant. I know we’ve encountered parasites with a similar effect before, but…”

He sighed again, stood, and brushed his palms against his tunic. “Farewell, my friend. You will be Remembered by many brothers.”

Purposefully, Kenobi turned and strode over to where Ryll was still working. Cody lagged behind deliberately – his cam footage was doubtlessly going to be used to corroborate the report of Fives’ ‘death’, and he didn’t want to get too close to the man himself, just in case.

“Nerra, whatever happened?”

“Ambush, sir,” Nerra said weakly. “Didn’t manage to duck in time.”

“I’ll say,” Kenobi said, picking up the discarded bucket and inspecting it closely. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

“That took most of the damage, luckily,” Nerra replied.

“He’ll be fine,” Ryll said brusquely. “In this case, him yanking his bucket off probably saved his life, stopped it melting into his skin. Looks like his eye and ear are both okay.”

Cody dared to venture forward, and noticed that Nerra had a wound across his right temple, right where his tattoo ought to be. Was it just coincidence? Surely not? Because there had clearly been a whole operation in place, in a very short space of time, to get the poor vod who had been dolled up as Fives not only tattooed, but had his ID chip altered well enough to not only stand up to scrutiny but look like some attempt to ‘change’ it had been made, and find and paint some new armour for their fallen brother.

It made him immensely proud of his vod’e, that they had done so much without so much of a whiff of it coming back to him.

He also had a lot of questions to ask about how Fives had survived so long as an ARC, and walked right into an ambush his first time out with the 212th, but they could wait for a better moment. Preferably one where they weren’t being recorded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends my mass writing spree. There may be a delay before the publication of the next chapter :(


End file.
